PROTOCOL

Introduction

1. I thank My Lord, the Honourable, the Chief Judge of Kwara State, Hon. Justice Sulyman D. Kawu, OFR and My Lords, the Judges of the Kwara State High Court, herein sitting en banc, for the invitation extended to me to address this special court session being held in honour of His Lordship, the Honourable, the Chief Judge, to mark his exit from the Bench, after a meritorious service in the State for almost 4 decades.

• This is happening today the 4 January 2023, which marks His Lordship’s 65 birthday and by virtue of Section 291(2) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999  (as amended), His Lordship, shall cease to hold the office of the Judge this Court by midnight today. I thank God Almighty Who preserved Your Lordship’s life all these years and for all the milestones. On behalf of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), I wish Your Lordship a very Happy Birthday with many happy returns!

• If I am to author a biography of the life of Justice Kawu, I would title the work: ‘A Life of Law and Justice’. This is because His Lordship dedicated the entirety of his career and working life on the Bench, dispensing justice. Following his National Youth Service, during which His Lordship served as State Counsel in the Niger State Ministry of Justice, His Lordship was appointed a Magistrate in the Kwara State Judiciary in 1984 and served on the lower bench for 10 years before being appointed to the High Court bench in 1994. For the past 28 (twenty-eight) years, His Lordship served meritoriously and creditably as a Judge of the High Court of the State, the last 8 years of which as the substantive Chief Judge of the State. His Lordship had also served briefly as Acting Chief Judge of the State between January 2010 and February 2012, thus heading the judiciary of kwara State for a decade. There are very few persons who have been so privileged as to serve in a judicial capacity for a record period of thirty-eight years – for close to four decades, Hon. Justice Kawu’s life revolved around Law, Law, and nothing else but Law. Even when national assignments called, they were always for His Lordship to serve as a Judicial Officer; either as Member/Chairman of an Election Petition Tribunal or one Judicial Commission of Inquiry or the other.

• It was at one of these national assignments that our paths first crossed some 15 years ago. His Lordship was Chairman of the National Assembly, Governorship and States Legislative Assemblies Election Tribunal, Niger State, in 2007 and I was privileged to appear before the panel as Counsel. It was there that I got a front-row seat to observe and experience the hard work, industry, dedication, sagacity and most importantly, the impeccable character of His Lordship, who as Chairman of that panel left nobody in doubt of his sterling qualities. His Lordship’s simplicity and humility could not be missed by the worst of critics. His comportment as a Judge was a trait that stood this jurist out. He was accommodating and never stampeded any counsel in the presentation of his case; His Lordship afforded everyone equal opportunity to present his/her case.

• As counsel, we raised every conceivable arguable point of law in the advancement of our client’s case, and His Lordship and the panel delivered rulings on each one of our submissions, on time and on point. Whether the ruling was for us or against us and whether we agreed or disagreed, the industry and reasoning behind the decisions were quite clear for all to see. What was even more remarkable in the Minna experience was that in the murky waters of election petitions, characterized by accusations and counteraccusations, suspicions and speculations – real and imagined – there was never any untoward imputations against the person of His Lordship. His Lordship was and remained above the fray all through the proceedings. That was when His Lordship struck the chord, earned my respect and my confidence in His Lordship’s strength of character, honesty, and professionalism has never diminished – I never had cause to think otherwise!

• Subsequently in 2011, I received one of the best recommendations for my elevation to the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria from His Lordship. Needless to say that His Lordship’s charitable and flowery remarks about me played a role in making me a member of the inner Bar, for which I remain grateful to God Almighty and to His Lordship.

• Talking about His Lordship’s simplicity and humility, less than a month ago, precisely on 10 December 2022, I was in Ilorin to condole the families of Honourable Justice Titi Daibu, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, Prof M. M. Akanbi. SAN, I went to pay my respect to His Lordship, the Chief Judge, but was told he had travelled to Ibadan. When I later spoke with His Lordship shortly before I went to the airport, His Lordship, who was on his way back from Ibadan, instead of proceeding home decided to drive to the airport and waited for not less than 30 minutes for me to arrive just to see me before I got on the flight. I was touched and humbled by that gesture, but it was just one of the many wonderful things about His Lordship.  That is why, by the Grace of God, on a day like this, I could not have been anywhere else than in Ilorin, and at this occasion.

• One area where His Lordship has left an indelible judicial footprint, in my humble view, is in the aspect of justice sector reforms. You will recall that even prior to Justice Kawu’s appointment as the Chief Judge of the State, His Lordship had served as the Chairman of the Committee for the Review of Kwara State High Court Civil Procedure Rules in 2008. The landmark recommendations of that Committee chaired by His Lordship is the reason Kwara State Judiciary has been recognised as one of the leading fora for dispute resolution in the country today. Some of the early decisions on the innovations of the Civil Procedure Rules (uniform rules) towards speedy disposal of cases I came across, started from this jurisdiction.

• Whilst many of us are familiar with His Lordship’s antecedents as a judicial officer, not all of us know that Justice Kawu is a cerebral scholar of high repute. For as long as I can remember, His Lordship has been presenting well-researched papers at learned gatherings and fora both within and outside Nigeria. Like his judgments, Justice Kawu’s articles and papers are always incisive, insightful, and thought-provoking. In one of his recent papers delivered at the National Judicial Institute, Justice Kawu addressed one subject that has been an issue of perennial judicial complaints: the use and misuse of interim and interlocutory injunctions. According to His Lordship:

“Some of the loudest complaints against the judiciary in recent times border on the way and manner Judges exercise their discretionary powers to grant Interlocutory applications particularly on adjournments and injunctions. It has been alleged, though sometimes wrongly that Judges do abuse their discretionary powers in granting interlocutory injunctions. This abuse, unfortunately is often times ascribed to corruption in the judiciary.”

1. Honourable Justice Kawu has successfully navigated the judicial ocean without a stain or dent on his image either as a judge or as a magistrate. As recent as 2020, the National Judicial Council – the body responsible for recommending for appointment, removal and disciplining of judges in the country – considered the Report of Preliminary Complaints Assessment Committee in respect of a petition written against His Lordship. The Council found that there was no substance in the Petition and His Lordship was absolved of any wrongdoing.

Conduct of Legal Practitioners – Bench and Bar

1. This takes me to the penchant for spurious petitions by some litigants and indeed some of our colleagues. These group of persons have made it a professional calling to subject every judge, before whom they prosecute a matter to unfounded and frivolous petitions and complaints. There is also the growing tendency for aggrieved litigants to take to the mass media to insult and denigrate the Courts and the Judges with uncomplimentary remarks about any judgment that is not in their favour, referring to the courts as “supermarkets” and its judgement as “kangaroo judgement”. This is one of the greatest acts of disservice one can do to the judicial arm of government and by extension the entire country. Lawyers who engage in such are doing great harm to the legal profession the people. We must never lose sight of the fact that without justice, no nation exists and for justice served to have any meaning, the people must have confidence in not only the process but also the outcome. Absent which there will be anarchy and chaos as people will resort to self-help rather than embrace the justice dispensed by the Judiciary. To refer the Courts as “supermarkets where only the rich shop” or lend any form of support to the characterisation of the judgements of the Court as “Kangaroo Judgements” is as unprofessional and unethical (if not worse) as the perceived wrong which led to such a remark. Under no circumstance should the Courts be so described.

1. Whilst it cannot be denied that some judges may sometimes be found to have misconducted themselves or breached the judicial code of conduct in the discharge of their duty, we must nonetheless frown at the unwholesome practice of screaming blue murder each time a case does not go in one’s favour. We must make peace with the reality that at the end of an adjudication, one party is bound to win while the other party goes home a loser. It thus cannot be in every case where a party loses that the judge or panel of judges have been compromised. And, even where there is proof of misconduct, proper reporting channels must be followed, and the alleged misconduct duly established by evidence; media crucifixion of judges must be shunned and discouraged.

1. Our legal system is structured the way it is with the understanding that, being mere mortals, the judges are not infallible; one of the matters that fall within the jurisdiction of the court is the power or freedom to make mistakes. Judges and magistrates can and do make genuine mistakes based on their understanding of the law. No one can do beyond what he knows because our actions are a concomitant of what we know. This is why we have consistently maintained and advocated for merit-based appointment of Judges. Because, both poor knowledge of law and compromise have the same appearance, and neither is good for the legal profession – Bench and Bar.

1. Parties aggrieved with decisions of the Court should learn to and be advised to follow the proper systems and submit the decisions for review by way of appeals, rather than casting aspersions on the entire judicial system with uncomplimentary remarks and unfounded allegations of compromise. This is not to say that judgments of our Courts cannot be a subject of scholarly review or informed analysis, which is completely different from cases where judgments are criticised on television or in the pages of newspapers in most cases by lawyers who were not in the matter, do not know the facts of the case and probably not had the opportunity of reading the judgment. Legal practitioners should not allow themselves to be used as ‘petition writers’ or social media commentators for the purpose of bringing down the judiciary for frivolous and oftentimes selfish reasons. We deprecate such conduct and insist that the only way to challenge judgments of Courts is by appealing the judgments as provided by the Constitution and other relevant laws.

1. While the Bar must always defer to, defend and protect the independence and integrity of the Bench, in the same vein, members of the Bench must exercise restraint and tame their prejudices in the discharge of their judicial functions. In a paper delivered by Lord Neuberger, at the Singapore Panel on Judicial Ethics and Dilemmas on the Bench on the 19^th of August 2016, titled The Role of the Judge: Umpire in a Contest, Seeker of the Truth or Something in Between? His Lordship in analysing the function of a judge, noted that:

“By contrast, although judges normally have the luxury of being able to take time for their decisions, they are routinely called on to make decisions which involve difficult resolutions of factual disputes, value judgments and balancing exercises, and an analysis and resolution of legal issues, all of which can call for an assimilation and assessment of complex facts, and complex legal arguments.

So far as facts are concerned, even in a very simple factual dispute, it can be very difficult to know whom to believe. Indeed, in some ways, it is particularly difficult to resolve evidential differences when there are no contemporary documents and only one issue of fact on which the parties differ. On the other hand, in complex cases, resolving issues can be particularly difficult partly because it is very rare indeed that one finds that any party’s evidence is wholly reliable, partly because there is normally a mass, even a morass, of oral and documentary evidence.

But there is a significant ethical dimension to the fact-finding exercise as well. We are all subject to conscious and subconscious biases, and such biases will inevitably influence our assessment of evidence and, in particular, of witnesses. Early on in my judicial career, I was listening to an oldish man who was giving evidence which was inherently unconvincing, and I noticed that I was trying to justify or explain away his inconsistencies and evasions to myself. I pulled myself up and tried to examine why I was doing this, and then I realised that, through his physical and vocal mannerisms, he reminded me of my father who had recently died, and that this caused me to want to believe him.

This is but one example, and a rather simple example, of bias, and it is nothing to be ashamed of. Indeed, we judges should all be as aware as we can be of our biases or, if you prefer, prejudices. I say “all” with confidence, because one cannot be a functional human being without having preconceived ideas and notions. The important thing is that judges are as aware as they can be of any biases or prejudices they suffer from, and that they acknowledge and take into account those biases and prejudices when evaluating witnesses and their evidence. Nobody is going to know all their prejudices and nobody is going to be able to allow in a perfect way for all the prejudices they know about. But that is no excuse for not trying to assess and allow for them. The fact that we cannot get the answer right every time is no excuse for not doing our best to get the right answer.

When it comes to issues of law, there is sometimes a strong temptation to “bend” the law, or even simply to cheat, if strict application of the cases or statute appears to lead to what appears to be an unmeritorious result in the particular case to be decided. In a sense, this can be seen as an ethical dilemma, especially when the law seems to produce a result which would appear to a non-lawyer to verge on the immoral. As a matter of principle, a judge should plainly resist the temptation to misapply the law in such a case. Not only would it be contrary to the judicial duty, indeed the judicial oath. It would also often be contrary to the interest of the very party whom the judge is trying to help: the other party would successfully appeal and the party who the judge is seeking to help would not only lose, but would have to pay two lots of costs.”

1. While upbraiding members of the Bar against unfair castigation and media condemnation of, as well as spurious petitions against the Bench, I will in the same breath remind your Lordships of the need for circumspection in carrying out the functions of your exalted office. Permit me to respectfully draw Your Lordships’ attention to the Code of Conduct for judicial officers which calls for propriety and the appearance of propriety in your Lordships’ personal and professional relationships. The Code also requires your Lordships, in exercising the freedoms of expression, belief, association and assembly, to exercise restraint and adhere strictly to political silence for the purpose of maintaining your Lordships’ independence; not undermining the confidence in your Lordships’ impartiality and exposing your Lordships to political attacks inconsistent with the dignity of judicial officers. Like Ceaser’s wife, judicial officers must be above suspicion and above accusation.

1. In addition to having a stellar record of judicial service, His Lordship, Justice S. D. Kawu, severally received Letters of Commendation from the NJC’s Performance Evaluation Committee of Judicial Officers of Superior Courts of Records – TWICE in 2005, then in 2007, 2008, 2010, 2015, 2017, and 2018. These Letters of Commendation, symbolic as they might seem, are indices of positive achievements that ought to be celebrated and commemorated by all and sundry. They are testimonials of excellence and a badge of honour which the recipients should be proud to adorn, and which can be referred to as our Judicial Nobel Prize for which the winners should be commended. I am therefore proud to be associated with His Lordship for being a worthy recipient of this singular honour for a record 8 times!

Welfare of Judges

1. The NBA under my watch will continue to advocate for the continued improvement of the welfare of justices. This is only proper as it is when welfare of judges is properly addressed that we can collectively get the best out of the temple of justice. Following the request for memoranda by the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), I have set up a committee which I personally chair, to come up with recommendations for review of salaries and emoluments of our serving and retired justices and judges, and for magistrates too. The Committee’s report is almost ready and will be submitted next week. Just a few days ago, the social media was awash with the video of a Channels Television Interview of the recently retired judicial couple, Honourable Justices Taiwo Taiwo and Oluwatoyin Taiwo, complaining that Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo (the wife of Justice Taiwo Taiwo) who retired from the Lagos State Judiciary in September 2022, is yet to receive her gratuity and pension. May I seize this opportunity to call on the Lagos State Government to pay the said entitlements to Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo and other retired Judges of the State. We appeal that the same speed with which the government of Lagos State responded to the recent extrajudicial killing of our colleague, for which we are grateful, be applied in dealing with this issue of unpaid gratuity and pension of retired judicial officers in the state. We should not wait for any death before attending to the welfare of Judges, when/where we issue condolence messages with promises to do what would benefit only the living. 

2023 General Elections and the Role of the Legal Profession – Bench and Bar

1. In less than 55 days, Nigerians will march to the polls to elect their next set of leaders. This is another avenue for us as members of the legal profession to demonstrate responsibility to the people of this nation and contribute to nation building. First, we all are expected, alongside other Nigerians, to exercise our franchise by voting our preferred candidates in all the category of elections.  Members of the Bar will also be advising the political parties and candidates, some are already doing this, and handling the cases that may arise from the elections – on the Bench or Bar. In doing these, we must never forget that we owe Nigerians sincere and honest participation in all the stages of the electoral process. We also owe ourselves the duty to preserve the legal space for the next generation of lawyers. For this reason, we must shun all forms of unprofessional and unethical practices that may cast the legal profession in bad light and undermine our place in the society. We must be deliberate about not misconducting ourselves, whatever be our involvement in the process.

• In whatever capacity we find ourselves, either as judges or counsel, what should be of paramount importance in our participation must be the rule of law. In a recent address, Lord John Reed, the President of the United Kingdom Supreme Court identified two factors which underpin London’s position as a leading centre of international legal services. These are: international confidence in the country’s lawyers and judiciary, and the United Kingdom’s reputation for respecting rule of law. According to His Lordship:

“the rule of law is not something that can be taken for granted. The law imposes constraints. Judicial decisions enforcing the law can be controversial. As a result, there is always a risk that lawyers and judges may be criticised for doing their jobs, and that the independence of the judiciary may be questioned or undermined. But, as I have explained, an independent legal profession, judicial independence and the rule of law are immensely valuable assets of our society, and, in addition to their importance to our democracy, also form a vital foundation for our prosperity and our international reputation. Reputations take a long time to be established but can be lost very quickly.”

Rule of law should therefore be our watchword as we begin the countdown to the next month’s General Election. And this is why we must fight every appearance of professional misconduct amongst us because it hurts not only the legal profession but also the prosperity and reputation of our nation Nigeria.

Killing of Mrs. Mobolanle Raheem

• One fundamental tenet of rule of law is the respect for the sanctity of life. Section 33(1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria recognises the right to life, thus: “every person has a right to life, and no one shall be de- prived intentionally of his life, save in execution of the sentence of a court in respect of a criminal offence of which he has been found guilty in Nigeria”. Unfortunately, the right to life has become one of the most abused rights today in Nigeria. Aside from the mindless killing of innocent citizens by the various non-state actors that are running amok in different parts of the country – unknown gunmen, bandits, herdsmen, militants, etc. – law enforcement agents, charged with the duty of protecting lives and properties, have contributed a great deal in the loss of lives. While we must never fail to commend the security agencies for the efforts in discharging their constitutional mandate within the limited resources available to them, with many paying the supreme price in the course of their work, and we commiserate with their families as their lives are no less important, we cannot afford to be silent over their excesses.  Instances of extrajudicial killings by the police and other law enforcement agencies abound; mindless taking of the lives they swore to protect. And so it was that on the 25 December 2022, one of our dear colleagues, Mrs Omobolanle Raheem, was killed by a trigger-happy police officer. Omobolanle was on her way back from church after the Christmas service and was in the car with her husband, sister and children who witnessed her violent and barbaric killing. She did not deserve to die in that manner – no one deserves to die like that! At this juncture, may I respectfully I crave the indulgence of Your Lordships and Learned Colleagues to observe a minute silence, to pay respect to the memory of our late colleague, Mrs. Omobolanle Raheem.  

• The death of Mrs. Raheem is one death too many. Just 2 weeks prior to the incident that took Mobolanle, another Nigerian, Gafaru Buraimoh, also lost his life in the hands of another trigger-happy police officer. The identity of the police officer who shot and killed Gafaru was only revealed just two days ago following public outcry. Omobolanle and Gafaru are only a fraction of such deaths of innocent Nigerians in the hands of law enforcement agencies that occur daily. But what is perhaps most worrisome, is the fact that nothing ever seems to come of these deaths; we hear reports of the killings, but we do not get to hear of prosecution and possible convictions of the culprits. The NBA under my leadership is determined that the status quo must change. There must be consequences for any life taken by the police, not just for the likes of Omobolanle, who is a lawyer, but also and even more so for the likes of Gafaru, who is not a lawyer. Gafaru represents the ordinary Nigerians, who have no one to speak for them; their stories never make the headlines, nor get the attention of the Attorneys General, the Governor, or Inspector General of Police. These are the ones whose families are frustrated by the police in their quest for justice as they keep having doors shut in their faces until they go home and “leave it for God”. It is for such persons that we must speak and fight to ensure that justice is done in their cases. I have set up a committee chaired by Titilola Akinlawon, SAN, to interface between the office of the AG Lagos State, the Police, with respect to the prosecution of these cases.

• We must change the narrative; we must reverse the ugly trend, because it could have been any one of us and we must rise up to check the excesses of our law enforcement agencies. To do this, all hands must be on deck; the police, Attorneys General of States, counsel for the prosecution and for the defence and the Judges before whom these cases are brought. We must shun all forms of shenanigans and do our part to ensure that these cases are heard and determined within reasonable time. As the scripture noted “When crime is not punished quickly, people feel it is safe to do wrong” – Ecclesiastes 8:11. Speedy prosecutions will serve as deterrent to others and may just be the catalyst we need to put us on the path of the reformation we so desperately need. I must quickly note here that if the NPF had promoted and properly placed and deployed all the lawyers in the Force in the proper Officer Cadre, in consonance with the Police Act 2020, such incidences would have reduced drastically. This is a call I made when I visited the Police Service Commission and I will certainly bring it up with the Inspector General of Police (IGP) at my earliest opportunity of meeting with him, and this will be soon.

• We owe it as a collective duty to their memory to ensure that anyone responsible for their deaths is appropriately dealt with in accordance with the law, and to also ensure that lives of innocent Nigerians are not taken at whim by law enforcement agencies. The Nigerian Bar Association is working with both the Nigerian Police and the Lagos State Ministry of Justice to ensure a speedy trial of officers involved in these extra judicial killings. The NBA shall pursue civil remedies to ensure that the families left behind by the victims receive due compensation for their bereavement. It is our hope and prayer that with our spirited efforts the days of mindless killings will soon be behind us.

Honourable Justice Titi Daibu and Professor Muhammed M. Akanbi, SAN

• My Lords, let me at this point also commiserate with the Kwara State Judiciary and the entire legal community in Kwara State on the transition of His Lordship, Honourable Justice Titi Daibu and Professor Muhammed M. Akanbi, SAN. Their painful exit from this world is a big loss to the entire legal profession in Nigeria. We pray that Almighty God will grant them eternal rest and grant their families and the entire profession the fortitude to bear the loss. Amen. May I also humbly request that we rise to observe a minute silence in honour of these wonderful, departed souls.

Conclusion

• My Lords, Distinguished Colleagues, Ladies and Gentlemen, everything that has a beginning must have an end. Today marks the formal ending of a long and fulfilling judicial career that started when His Lordship was first appointed to the lower Bench in 1984 and subsequently to the High Court Bench in 1994. Towards the end of last year, precisely on 11 October 2022, the Federal Government of Nigeria recognised His Lordship for his sterling service in the judiciary with an award of the prestigious honour of Officer of the Federal Republic (OFR). This is indeed a fitting honour to wrap up a phenomenal career of nearly four decades and I congratulate His Lordship on that beautiful feather added to your Lordship’s cap.

• The NBA congratulates your Lordship and celebrate your stellar achievements and excellent record of service. We also thank and congratulate the entire Kawu Family for giving us such an excellent jurist in the mould of his father – our father and grandfather, the late Justice of the Supreme Court, Honourable Justice Saidu Kawu. As William Langland, the 14^th century English poet observed – “like father like son: every good tree maketh good fruits”. We pay tribute to the late jurist, for giving us a worthy son who has acquitted himself and the family name so honourably and creditably after the manner of his father. My Lord, Honourable Justice Sulyman D. Kawu has succeeded in proving the truism that the apple does not fall far from the tree, and we are grateful that his Lordship graced the halls of justice in our time.

• As we celebrate His Lordship’s excellent service to the Country, we will also not fail to acknowledge and appreciate His Lordship’s wife and children for their support and sacrifices all these years. We are thankful to you all even as we now graciously release His Lordship back to you. I particularly congratulate you on the beginning of more splendid times with His Lordship who I suspect would spend some more time with you and the family. Permit me at this juncture to also congratulate your friends, particularly, Mallam Yusuf O. Ali, SAN, and Alhaji Adebayo O. Adelodun, SAN, and to say perhaps, you may ‘hangout’ more freely with His Lordship now, without wondering what counterparties would imagine you are up to. You may even now drive to some of those amala joints you used to visit together.

• Having so creditably acquitted yourself, Your Lordship is well-deserving of the rest that awaits. I therefor pray that the Almighty God will grant Your Lordship sound health and strength in retirement so that Your Lordship can enjoy the long-awaited rest. May the Good Lord also grant Your Lordship long life to live to see and enjoy your children’s children to the fourth generation.

• Once again, I wish Your Lordship a Happy Birthday, and I thank Your Lordships of the Kwara State High Court, the magistracy and all the staff of the judiciary for granting me audience at this special court session in honour of our revered jurist.

• I thank you all for listening.

• Compliments of the season and have a blessed 2023.

Yakubu Chonoko Maikyau, OON, SAN

PRESIDENT