OPEN LETTER TO 'SEPTEMBER 7'

My Dear Lords,



It is certainly belated, our congratulations from this end to you for your good luck in getting elevated from the Bar to the Bench of the highest Court in the State. But then, as it is said, better late than never.


I hope that we can dare to trust that your Lordships will not feel affronted that the Squib cares to issue missives to judicial potentates such as you.


We too, as roguish as our detractors may like to think of us, are stakeholders in the profession, practice and administration of law. So please bear with our egregiousness.


Apparently it was not easy becoming a member of the Lagos State Bench. Many applied, struggled, jostled, quested and hungered for the job but only a few were chosen.


Your lordships know, as all know that you did not bag the job the European way. It was very much in an African style particularly Nigerian. That is to say you put in merit but added a lot of connection into the contention. Plus prayer. Plus fasting. Plus plus plus and plus. Surely you understand me your lordships.


Ostensibly it was because you were certified fit and proper by the authorities that you all got the nod to become Judges. But it was not all of you that got the support of the bar in your struggle to get appointed.


For those the Bar considered not good enough for the Lagos Bench for reasons of integrity, competence, knowledge etc, it is absolutely compelling that you prove the Bar wrong. Very wrong.


You should not conduct yourself like


“Eni a pe lole


totun gbomo eran jo”


As for those of you supported by the Bar, on your perceived apparent virtues, please do not let us down. Do not rest on your oars, so that the Bar will be able to hold her head high. Do not let the “uncircumcised” as it were ask “Are these not the so called darlings and pearls of the Bar?


Remember that in early 2007, Mr. Babatunde Fashola was an unknown politico. But his principal and sponsor paraded and promenaded him as the “Best Man For The Job”. And, true and truly, we all have seen that that was no empty boast.


I have thought hard and long on which advice one may possibly give you. What is there to say again? After all, one expects your promoters, relatives, friends, spiritual counselors, spouses etc to have sat you down and load you with bushels and sacks of advice.


So what else can a mere gecko, like us offer? If it is corruption they must have told that bribery and mockery are next door neighbors.


If indolence, they must have taken you to the ants. If pride, they must have lectured you that it is a preamble to a fall and drives grace and glory away. If it is anger, they must have told you it brings a Judge easily into the league of maniacs.


If ignorance, they must have recommended knowledge to you


Well, I have scratched my tiny brain very hard and I think I now have a charge that will certainly prove useful to you. The charge is simple-STRIVE FOR EXCELLENCE, which is another way of saying “try and be the very best you can be”


Challenge your self always. Always ask “have I put in my best today, my very best? Shun the easy platform of mediocrity, of just being a number, a forgettable judex. Strive relentlessly to be distinguished and distinct, a star judge or better still, a super star judge. Don’t think I have set a tall order for you. What I have asked you to be has been laid down by Jesus the Christ, centuries ago when he admonished believers as follows-


“Let your light so shine before the world


so that they will see and glorify your father which art in Heaven”


So many dear Lords, your appointment should not be appreciated alone from the materialism perspective (the new jeeps, the up-scale social status, the perks of office).


You should also view it from the perspective of service to humanity and a rare opportunity to write your name in gold. Never forget that your first name and your surname is now JUSTICE. Be true to your name from now on to the end of your careers.


Finally, there is this little matter of Squib scooping. The constitutional license to ‘gbeborun’ is not yet withdrawn from us. So if we notice anything untoward in your courts we will surely talk and talk in our squibish manner. It wouldn’t matter then whether you were a friend or foe.






Thank you.






Yours geckostically,


Adesina Ogunlana