DISQUIET BREWS OVER JUDGE'S ABSENSE

Honourable The Chief Judge,
Lagos State,

Dear Sir,

Where is My Lord?

Milord Justice Adebisi Kayode-Ogunmekan,


Justice Kayode –Ogunmekan of the Lagos High Court,


The question becomes necessary,


Because, since the New Legal Year, 2008,


The Honourable Judge has not been sitting in her court,


Lawyers and litigants don’t know where His Lordship is,

But they know where some other “missing” judges are,

Such judges include Nwaka J.

They know such judges are on “national assignment”,

to out-of- jurisdiction Election Petition Tribunals,

But what of Justice Adebisi Kayode-Ogunmekan?

People are tired of being told by the registrars of the court that the judge is not around,

Where exactly is Justice Kayode-Ogunmekan?

Litigants are worried,

particularly defendants in criminal cases, in prison custody,

Last Tuesday (11th November 2008) some of such defendants almost went on a riot,

In Justice Adebisi Kayode-Ogunmekan’s court when as usual they met a vacant bench,

The next day (12th November 2008) relatives of such defendants

staged a demonstration in front of the Justice Adebisi Kayode-Ogunmekan’scourt.

The reason is obvious,

People are getting frustrated and feeling taken for granted.

Sir, except the situation is redressed, things may get uglier.

Respectfully yours,

Adesina Ogunlana Esq,
Publisher, the Squib

WHEN WILL THE TRIAL OF THE SQUIB EDITOR BEGIN?

Beginning from October 2001, a bitter fight raged between two forces in the Lagos State Judiciary. The first force was led by no other than the prime leadership of the Judiciary Ibitola Sotuminu J. the then 63 year old Honourable Chief Judge of the State.
The other force was led by then a little known, lawyer Adesina Ogunlana. The big dispute was over-Ogunlana's magazine, a shoe-string budget but fiery publication, meaningfully called The Squib with a ringing war cry-“The Heavens Will Not Fall! for motto.
In setting up the Squib, Ogunlana's singular objective was to frontally challenge and expose widespread corruption and misconduct in the bar and the bench in Lagos State, via the journalistic platform of the Squib and thus force a change in attitude.
Interestingly, the Squib was already in existence before Ibitola Sotuminu became the Chief Judge. When the Squib was 'born', the Chief Judge of Lagos State was a certain Christopher Segun J. who kept well away from the Squib, until he left office.
Within two months of being in office, Sotuminu C.J had become uncomfortable with the presence of the Squib. The Chief Judge's first reaction at containing the Squib was to approach some elders and leaders in the legal profession to “talk to the Squib man to mellow down”
The approach failed because only a few elders agreed with the aggrieved Chief Judge that the Squib was bad and should be checked. In fact the late Chief Debo Akande S.A.N shocked the chief judge with his enthusiastic defence and justification of the Squib when both met over the issue. Said Akande “if only for helping us tame Olugbani (then a Lagos State high court judge notorious for perennial late coming to work). I will continue to support the Squib. What we the elders of the bar collectively failed to achieve, that small boy has done it. If you like call me a board member of the Squib magazine, no problem”. In November 2001, the Chief Judge ordered a crack-down on the Squib. The Chief Judge placed a ban on the sale of the magazines in the premises of the courts of Lagos State and instructed the Chief Registrar Mrs. Oluwatoyin Taiwo, now Oluwatoyin Taiwo J. to enforce the clearly illegal ban.
The Chief Registrar did her best to ensure that the Squib was chased out of the courts. To that end, private security men and armed mobile police-men were deployed into the court premises to achieve the illegality.
Despite repeated invasions of the court premises by police-men and repeated arrests of the Squib vendors, the effort failed as waves upon waves of activist cadres came to the support of the Squib's publisher and ensured that the sale of the Squib continued.
Upset and frustrated by the surprising resilience of the publisher of the magazine, Justice Sotuminu in her capacity as the Chief Judge of Lagos State sent in a petition dated 2nd January 2003 to the Chairman of the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee Nigerian Bar Association, against Ogunlana asking for his disbarment and the cessation of the publication of the Squib. The Nigerian Bar Association's Disciplinary Committee headed by Chief Bamidele Adedeji Aiku without hearing from Ogunlana considered the petition and by a split 4-3 votes decided that a prima facie case of professional misconduct was disclosed by the petition against Ogunlana.
The Committee by its letter of 21st July 2003 to the Secretary of the Legal Practitioners' Disciplinary Committee formulated a complaint of professional misconduct against Ogunlana thus:
“Adesina Ogunlana as a legal practitioner in various editions of 'The Squib' between year 2001 and year 2003 published of Judges of the Lagos State Judiciary words that have negative impact on the administration of justice in Lagos State.”
On October 23 2003 the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee of the Body of Benchers summoned the Editor to appear before it.
The editor obeyed the summons in company of his lawyers led by the foremost legal practitioner G.O.K Ajayi SAN. The trial did not take place as the complainant Sotuminu C.J (as she then was) did not turn up. It took another three and half years before the LPDC met again to consider the complaint. That was on May 7 2007. Again the complainant did not show up.
On October 23 2007, the matter came up for hearing and was stalled on the two occasions in part because there was no complainant in “court” against the ever-present editor-in-chief. In all these occasions did the LPDC consider throwing out the complaint.
In fact at the sitting of the LPDC on 22 April 2008, when Adesina Ogunlana, in the absence of his counsel Chief G.O.K Ajayi S.A.N respectfully sought to draw the attention of the LPDC to the fact that the complainant was, as usual, was absent, the presiding chairman Umaru Eri, Chief Judge of Kogi State sternly hushed down the editor with these unforgetable words.
“YOU CAN'T ADDRESS US. IT IS BECAUSE OF CHIEF AJAYI THAT WE ARE DOING ALL THIS. IF NOT FOR CHIEF AJAYI WE WOULD HAVE FINISHED YOUR MATTER A LONG TIME AGO.”
Ogunlana was not to hear from the LPDC again until September 25 2008 when the LPDC caused an advertisement to be put up in the Punch Newspaper that his matter would be coming up for hearing on the 27th October 2008.
Curiously the matter was listed for defence. Baffled at this, the editor enquired from Abubakar Maude Esq, the Secretary of the LPDC what warranted the listing of the case for defence. Maude's explained it away as “a mistake” that would be rectified. Then on Thursday October 16 2008, the LPDC placed another advertisement that the case no longer coming up on the 27th October 2008 but on 10th November 2008.Again it was listed for defence.
On the 3rd November 2008 Mr. Dele Oye, as counsel to the Nigerian Bar Association forwarded to Ogunlana's counsel, Chief G.O.K Ajayi S.A.N among other things, a copy of a two count complaint against Ogunlana which read thus:

From all indications then, it seemed that a definite hearing of the matter against the editor would take place on the adjourned date (10th November 2008). This moreso, as the incumbent Chief Judge of Lagos State Adetula Alabi J. despite the hectic schedules of his office and his own personal burdens was positioning himself strongly to inherit former Chief Judge Sotiminu's petition against Ogunlana. However the hopes of any hearing in the C.J Lagos Vs Adesina Ogunlana case before the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee on the 10th November 2008 as scheduled crashed late afternoon of Friday 7th November 2008 when messages arrived from the LPDC to Ogunlana and his counsel that the hearing date has been vacated. According to the LPDC Secretary, Abubakar Maude, the body would not be able to form a quorum on the 10th Novemeber 2008 Explained Maude in a telephone chat with Ogunlana
“Many members of the Committee are involved in Election Petition Tribunal matters and so won't be available on the 10th November to hear the matter.”
From all indications, whenever and wherever the dispute between the contending forces are judicially resolved, the SQUIB EDITOR CASE will end a locus classicus. The reason is simple the decision, if ever the case comes to be tried on the merits, will determine the limits of the meaning(s) of a professional misconduct in a practitioner where the practitioners wears two or three hats on one head at the same time, as the respondent in the present case does.

LAWYER IN SELF HELP SCANDAL

On Saturday 1st November, one Mr. Oladapo Ajibola and his wife Abosede Oladapo came to meet the Squib with a complaint against a Lagos based legal practitioner, Mr. Olusegun Raji.
According to the couple, Raji had instigated and joined a group of thugs on Friday 31st October 2008 to conduct illegal and forcible evictions in a house known as no 3, Gbadamosi Street, Oke-Koto Agege, Lagos. The couple who claimed to be eye-witnesses to the alleged invasion of the property by Barrister Olusegun Raji and his men, painted a very vivid picture of the incident and which they said eventually led to the arrest and detention of the lawyer by the police at the Elere Police Station Agege.
In the judgement of this magazine, the complaint bothers not only on the commission of a crime but on professional miscondeuct on the part of Olusegun Raji Esq and therefore deserving of an urgent investigation.
From about 10.00am on 1st November 2008, the Squib made serious efforts to speak with Barrister Segun Raji but communication was only established at about 10.30p.m. According to Raji it was only then that the text message sent to him since about 2.00pm got to him. He denied in part and confirmed in part some of the claims and allegations of the Ajibolas.
The Squib also spoke with Police Corporal Akai of the Elere Police Station who is the I.P.O of the case. Please read on.

STATEMENT OF OLADAPO AJIBOLA:
“Some years ago, I had an agreement with the owner of the property at 3, Gbadamosi street, Oke-Koto Agege, One Mrs. Ojuolape Ajose who is now late.
As at that time, 1999, there was only like one boy's quarters at the back of the property while the rest was just slightly raised above foundation level. The plan of the house then as I met it indicated that what they wanted there was a flat but I reconstructed it to become what it is today, a bungalow of ten rooms and a shop.
My agreement with the old woman was that when I finished building the house, we'll both sit down and calculate for how many years I will use the property and hand it over. Unfortunately the woman died. Also her own children, all five of them are living outside Nigeria. But some of the grand children are here and they are the ones giving all this problem.
They don't want to sit down with me to discuss the handover, which is how and when it shall be. They just want to take over the house without compensating my investment there.
I am not the owner of the property but I developed it and I have interest in it. In 2002 I told them, the grandsons to pay me N700, 000 to cover the cost of development but they refused. Rather it has been one case after the other, therefore raising my cost the more. Because of legal fees and other expenses. It is getting close to 2 million naira now. I took some of the people I put in the property as tenants to court (Magistrate Court 9 Ogba) and I got judgements in respect of them. I got the judgement on 29th August 2008 and on the Monday 27th October 2008, I levied a proper execution on two of the tenants. On Wednesday 29th October 2008, I put new tenants Abdusalam Olatunji and Sunday Ajibare into the two rooms. When I evicted the old tenants, one of them reported me to the police. The police investigated the matter and found out that both the judgement I got and the execution were valid and so they left me alone.
I was at SCID Panti on Friday 31st October 2008 in respect of one of the cases I had with these grandsons of the late owner when I received a call from my wife that she received information that Ademola Arogundade and his two brothers (grandchildren of late Mrs. Ojuolape Ajose) were coming with thugs to break open the two rooms where the two new tenants had packed into.
I hurried down. About ten minutes after I came home, the three brothers came and started breaking the doors. I challenged them telling them that there was a court order on the two apartments but they ignored me.
About five minutes later, lawyer Raji came in a red jeep with about six other people. Within some minutes about fifteen other thugs came to join them. One of my own supporters was slapped twice and Raji's thugs wanted to beat the other two of my people and injure them but lawyer Raji appealed to them not to beat anybody again. He was saying “No, no ko to yen, ko to yen. E kan ko eru won jade ni.” (Don’t go that far. Don’t beat anybody juste pack out the loads of those people). In fact I heard him speaking on phone to some one saying “Don't bring more people from the base. It is not necessary.” At that point my wife addressed him saying “se lawyer leyinyi na sa. Le n pe toogi” (Sir are you really a lawyer, a lawyer using thugs?) The thugs obeyed him and started bringing out my tenants' properties and throwing them out. Nobody could resist them. At any rate some of the thugs had chased me into my own apartment and tore the net of my window. Infact the thugs wanted to evict me too, saying I was a nuisance but lawyer Raji followed them and called them away from my apartment.
Then lawyer Raji and the thugs went away. Two of the three Arogundade brothers now went back to the two rooms of the tenant and started to secure them with padlocks. That was when I came out of my room and got neighbors to challenge them. We arrested them and took them to Elere Police Station, to hand them over to the police.
To my surprise, I met lawyer Segun Raji already lodging a complaint against me there. At first the police did not even want to listen to me at all. But when I openly told them that there was a court order in the case, they began to change their attitude. Eventually the matter was taken to the (DPO, Chief Superintendent of Police Lateef Adebisi) who interviewed both Segun Raji, myself and the Arogundade brothers.
At a point the D.P.O started asking the Inspector there whether lawyer Raji was actually a lawyer, because the D.P.O found it difficult to believe that a lawyer would be involved in forceful eviction, more so in the presence of a court order.
In front of the D.P.O, Raji said two of the Arogundade brothers (the one I arrested) were tenants whom he instructed to move into the two rooms. The D.P.O was very disappointed and ordered the detention of lawyer Raji and the three Arogundade brothers, because according to the D.P.O “Nobody is above the law”
Raji now started begging the D.P.O claiming that he had a sick son whom he had to take to the hospital urgently. He showed the D.P.O his sick son a small boy of about six with a swollen cheek. The D.P.O then allowed him to go on bail but the three brothers were detained.
The police said we should report to the station at 9.00am the next day. When I reported to the police stations the next day, lawyer Raji did not show up even though I saw him in his car which was parked some one hundred meters away from the police station.
I told the police about this, but they did nothing about it. Rather they released the Arogundade brothers on bail and ordered them to go back to the house and open the two rooms they locked up yesterday. They did that in the presence of the I.P.O of the case, Police Corporal Akai. The police said we should all come back on Monday 3rd November”.

BARRISTER OLUSEGUN RAJI
“There is no truth in the claim that I led thugs to break into some rooms and forcibly evict people.
You see the problem is one guy Ajibola who calls himself a developer who is parading himself about as the owner of the house. He is being fully backed in this by Mr. Adejare Kembi, his lawyer. This Ajibola has driven away the owners of the property.
Ajibola is claiming that the mother of my own client, late Mrs. Ajose made him the developer of the building. My client is in London, she's the one that brought the case to our chambers.
This Ajibola goes about saying he is the owner of the house, even in the cases he said the court judgement is against the tenants he presented himself as the landlord whereas he is not.
Surprisingly Mr. Kembi has been giving him full backing. But this man who is calling himself the owner of the property, I have sued him and other tenants in the house to court, to eject them.
What happened in this case they came to you about was that on Monday 27th October 2008 one of the tenants in the house came to me, that Ajibola came with some men to evict him from his apartment in the house. I told the man to go and report the incident to the police.
Later the grandchild of the owner, Adebola Arogundade came to inform me that two rooms in the house had become vacant and that he had tenants to put in there so that Ajibola will not let out the place again and pocket the money.
He brought the tenants and they paid. Then they took the tenants to the house. That was on Friday October 31st 2008. I did not go with them to put the tenants in the rooms. I don't need to verify by myself whether the rooms were actually vacant or not before I put tenants in there. It is enough for me that Adebola Arogundade the owner's grandson said they were vacant. I believed him; because it is their property.
It was around 2.00pm that I received a call from the tenants that Ajibola was attacking them with thugs. I was in the hospital with my son that time. So I rushed there with two of my friends and we prevented Ajibola from driving the tenants out. It is not true that I came to the place with thugs or that I was there when the tenants were packing in. Ajibola who is complaining, did he not come to the place with thugs?
When I left the place I went back to the hospital with my child. Around 5.30p.m I received a call that Ajibola had gone to the Elere police station to make a report against my clients. So I went there. But when I get there it was not even Ajibola who was making report to the police but one of the people he called the new tenants. He, Ajibola came later.
Yes it is true that the police arrested me and granted me bail that evening. But this was because of the allegations Ajibola made against me”.

POLICE CORPORAL AKAI (I.P.O)
“Good morning. It is true that there is a case of forcible eviction was lodge in our police station against some people and lawyer Olusegun Raji.
Even in his own statment the lawyer admitted that he was the one who instructed the tenants to enter into the rooms, he cannot deny it since all the facts were so cleared. Yes it is true that he was arrested but the D.P.O allowed him bail just because of his position on self recognisance, really the lawyer went too far”.