NIGERIA AND ITS CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

Dele Farotimi and Professional Misconducts in his new book

By Oluwole Aladedoye, [SAN]

I have read this book about five times, and I am shocked at the temerity of the writer to accuse anyone of misconduct or corruption when he has admitted professional misconduct(s) against himself in the same book.

At pages 57 – 59 of the book, this is what the so called activist wrote:

" When the heat I was drawing became a little too much for the Head Judge Atilade. J, she reached out through one of the clients and Ojomo Chieftaincy family, seeking to explain that she was misled and had made a mistake. I was informed of her regrets at what was termed her "inadvertent error" in signing the warrant. Atilade, J was at the time in the pivotal place of waiting in the wings to succeed her sister as the Chief Judge of Lagos State. She was interested in doing everything to douse the fire that had been kindled by her participation in the issuance of the fraudulent writ of possession. She pleaded with them to appeal to me to bring a motion to quash the warrant that she had originally issued for the possession of 254 hectares.

We prepare the motion to quash the warrant after sending same to our client for execution. The client returned to us, obviously having coordinated with the judge who begged, saying that instead of the ground stated in our motion, which was for fraudulent misrepresentation, we should have it changed and request that it is quashed for “documentary irregularity”.

The original motion prepared by my office was a Motion on Notice. We prepared this and readied our processes to be filed, and the word came to us vide the Ojomu’s palace. Atilade has asked that we filed the motion ex-parte; this was to avoid a lengthy delay she assured her messengers to me, as having the motion papers served on Afe Babalola & Co will only serve to prolong the resolution of the problems created either by her corruption and or incompetence. My reasoned arguments against the ex-parte motion were not countenanced by the clients. They all just wanted the mess over and done with. Multi billion Naira investments were being undermined by the situation, and several lives were being disrupted they argued.

In deference to the client’s instructions and urging and in clear refusal of our legal advice to the client that the matter should not be withdrawn but argued on its merit as being sought for fraudulent misrepresentation, we were prevailed upon to present a motion ex-parte, asking for the warrant to be quashed on the ground of “documentary irregularity”, a euphemism for fraudulence. We followed the client’s wishes in protest but we were convinced that something wasn’t quite right. Events were to prove us right.

The motion was filed ex-parte as had been advised and Atilade, J heard the motion in chamber on the 11th of October 2013, quashing the fraudulently procured warrant as promised and euphemistically referring to the ground as being one of documentary irregularity.”

On page 74, the author wrote:

     "Justice Abdullai was the chairperson at my wedding reception. She was the one that had employed me to work with my very first employers; BASA & Partners. And we had not had any word to say to each other since May 2003 when she visited my home, and rudely sent me to fetch my wife for her, whilst she sat in her car, at my gate waiting for my wife to bring her the chequebook to the office account to which my wife was signatory, even as milady was the controller of the purse..."

Continuing on pages 84-85, the author wrote:

  "I immediately caused Counsel in my office to write a letter to the old man and made clear that I was not going to be satisfied with anything short of an apology and a retraction. I have absolutely no interest in taking Afe  Babalola's corrupt money but I was not going to allow a corrupt, amoral man, devoid of any integrity, to define me for posterity when none of us would be around to dispute the hagiographic accounts of the events. The doyen of Nigerian illegalities ignored to offer any acknowledgement of the letter and arrogantly refused to retract nor apologize. I caused writs to be issued against Afe Babalola SAN for libel..."

On pages 89 – 90, he continued:

 " The assignment of the case took forever at the Court registry and when it was eventually assigned, it was to the court of Oyekan-Abdullahi; my former Oga, chairwoman at my wedding reception, sworn enemy of over a decade and newly transferred to the Lagos Division of the Court from Ikeja Division...

The case suffered several unnecessary delays at the instances of the Court and the defendant. The climax was when Afe brought a Preliminary Objection to the suit. It was founded upon some nebulous claim to “Judicial Privilege” by the unschooled senior citizen. The legal incongruity of this defense was lost on the unlearned silk and his crop of corrupt wigs but they always knew that they were working from the question to the answer. After the dillly dallying was done, Oyekan-Abdullai heard the motion and the counter arguments and thereafter adjourned the case sine die for her ruling on the PO to be delivered.”

MY THOUGHTS

I am bewildered that a self styled activist does not see anything wrong, corrupt and unethical in him changing a motion on notice to Motion ex-parte at the extra-legal agreement with a Judge who is to hear the said motion.

I am also shocked that this purported human rights activist would yield to the proposal of a Judge ti change his ground of application.

I am astonished that this so called anti corruption crusader would yield himself to moving a motion ex-parte, pre-arranged between his client and the judge in chambers, which motion ex- parte was granted.

At this time, the judiciary was not corrupt.

Equally intriguing is his confession that the Judge before whom his personal suit for libel was assigned was his former boss & chairperson of his wedding reception. It took a ruling by the said chairperson of his wedding reception terminating his suit before he realized how corrupt the Judiciary has become?

Should he not have disclosed his relationship with the Judge in open Court & apply for the case file to be remitted to the Chief Judge or whoever was assigning cases for re-assignment?

Why did he proceed before the chairperson of his wedding reception? Had he got a favourable judgement, would he have complained?