A friend of mine was involved in a matter involving the Estate of a prominent Queen’s Counsel (Q.C), a brilliant lawyer: principled and a man of rare courage. The matter was before Justice D.T Okuwobi of the Lagos High Court and involved a substantial sum due for distribution from the estate of a certain legal icon. It was an “Urgent application” but when Counsel attempted to move it, the presiding judge, in her zeal to truncate the hearing, asked,
“What is the urgency in this application?”
The Counsel replied. “The applicant lives in America and the administrators of the estate at one of the estate meeting refused to release the sum of N29,000,000.00k (Twenty Nine Million Naira) due to a branch of the 14 beneficiaries. Also, one of the court-appointed administrators alleged that the beneficiary concerned is dead. We have taken steps by petitioning both the Commissioner of Police and the Attorney-General of Lagos State to find out what the administrator knows about the whereabouts of the said beneficiary. Our application is to have that money put in an interest-yielding account to be opened by the Chief Registrar of the Lagos High Court.”
The learned Judge retorted, “What is urgent about this or your client living in America? If she wants to pursue her claim she should relocate to Nigeria. I am adjourning this matter; take a date after the vacation.”
The lawyer was dumbfounded. After gathering himself, he protested, “My Lord, I believe you should at least consider that a life is involved.”
The Judge refused to respond and foisted a date on the parties.
His Client insisted that a petition be written to the Chief Judge at that time, Honourable Justice Adetula Alabi.
The lawyer doubted the propriety of embarking on such a dangerous route. Instead, he wanted to know why the Learned Judge chose to act in total disregard to his oath of office. The Client stated that one of the witnesses to the will was once a junior in the chambers of the Q.C who later became a Judge of the Lagos High Court, and that he was considered a mentor by the presiding Judge who he always referred to as “Daddy” and “Egbon”. That the same “daddy” was a member of the estate committee and was paid a substantial sum from the estate each time there was distribution. The Lawyer was shocked that a judge who knew of her personal interest in a matter refused or neglected to reveal that fact.
Following further investigation, and satisfied that the allegation was true, the Lawyer then wrote the then Chief Judge of Lagos State requesting the transfer of the said suit to another judge on the grounds of the personal interest of D.T Okuwobi J.
Meanwhile, before the petition was attended to, the matter came up before the judge. Counsel requested that the judge grant Counsel Audience in chambers in order for Applicant’s Counsel to make oral application that the court should hands off the suit. Either out of pride or oblivious of the facts, the Judge insisted that the application be made in open court.
The Lawyer boldly made the application and in his words: “Mi Lord, My Client is indeed circumspect and afraid that she cannot obtain justice in your court due to your personal relationship with Hon. Justice……………………. (Rtd.) and the attitude and comments of the Court on the last adjourned date lends credence to our suspicion. We have since written to the Chief Judge in this respect and copied you, Mi Lord, so our application is that you excuse yourself pending the determination of our letter to the Chief Judge.”
The Judge did not utter a word. Evidently, the court’s copy of the petition had not been brought to her attention by the registrar.
The rest is history. The matter was transferred to another judge and within, three court sessions the matter was resolved in favour of the Claimant. The Respondents released the disputed funds.
There are many Legal Practitioners out there who have suffered at the hands of tyrannical and corrupt judges but do not have the privilege of knowing what went wrong with clear, unassailable cases that ordinarily would have been decided in their Client’s favour. They and their clients are thus subjected to “judicial gangsterism” and deliberate protectionism on the part of the monitoring authorities.
Edward Chukwuma Esq.
Edward Chukwuma is the pseudonym of a Lagos-based legal practitioner. Please note that the views expressed are wholly his own.
