THE NATION TUESDAY, JANUARY 1, 2013
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LAW PERSONALITY
‘Only financial autonomy will secure judiciary’s independence’ Mustapha Imam, a member of the Database Committee of Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), can be described as a civil rights activist. He was the President of the Law Students Society of the Bayero University Kano from where he proceeded to the Nigerian Law School, Bwari Campus, Abuja. After his call to the Nigerian Bar, he worked briefly with the Constitutional Rights Project (CRP) and Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO) where he met such activists as Clement Nwankwor and Hon. Abdul Oro, who he served as a Personal Assistant in the House of Representatives. In this interview, Imam speaks on the fallen standards of legal education, the challenges facing young lawyers, human rights violation and sundry national issues. JOHN AUSTIN UNACHUKWU met him
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AN you give an insight into your background? I am Mustapha Imam, I am from Kano State, my parents came from Wudil and Garko local governments of Kano State. I attended Bayero University, Kano( BUK) between 1995-2000 for my Bachelor of Laws, LL.B Degree. At the University, I was a students union activist, in fact, I was the president of the law student Society, BUK from December 1998 to February 2000 from where I proceeded to the Nigerian law School, Bwari, Abuja. At the school, I was member of the Students Representative Council (SRC) where I served as the Deputy General Secretary. What has been your career path after your call to the Bar in 2003? Well, after my call to Bar, I went into law practice and I have served the country and the Bar in various capacities. I was privileged to come into contact with such activists as Abdul Oroh, then President Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO) who I later served as his first Personal Assistant when he was elected into the House of Representatives to represent Owan Federal Constituency of Edo State, Mr Clement Nwanko of the CRP and a host of others. I served as a member of the Human Rights Committee of the NBA 2006-2008 and currently, a member of the Data Base Committee of NBA in the process, I came in contact with such activists as Prof. Awwalu Yadudu H. Yadudu, Alhaji Sarki Abdullahi Imam (Makaman Kano), Dr. Olisa Agbakoba SAN and Muzamilu Sani Hanga who touched his life one way or the other During the All African Games Abuja 2003 (COJA) I was a staff COJA and I worked with the accreditation unit, where I was privi-
leged to served as manager accreditation in charge of the Nigerian VIP’s and Presidential Committee on All African Games (P.C.A.A.Gs) which was headed by the then Vice-President, Dr. Atiku Abubakar and his Deputy Conel Musa Muhammad. I will never forget my mentor Mr. Taye Ige who was at that time, was the head of the accreditation unit. He was the one who assigned me to handled all the VIPs issues concerning accreditation I was later employed as a state counsel ministry of justice, Kano in 2006. It is widely believed that the standard of legal education has greatly fallen in the country, what is your reaction to this? There several combination of factors that contribute to the fallen standard of legal education in Nigeria. Among them is the university system, Government allowed the establishment of several law faculties by the new generation universities without adequate manpower and facilities, then at the Nigerian law school level, their major constrain is lack of sufficient funds to execute several projects that will enhance the quality of the student’s produced. Why do you say this? This is because, I was privileged to served as liason officer to the members of the committee on legal education of the NBA when we visited Kano campus of the Nigerian law school. In short, what the committee saw at the school in terms of the level of infrastructural decadence was a big shame to this country. Consequently, you cannot expect a good services from the product of such terrible background. Again, instead of investing more resources to renovate and put be-
Lagos lawyer faults NJC on Oyewole
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HAIRMAN, Nigerian Bar Association( NBA) Lagos branch, Mr. Taiwo Taiwo, has faulted the position of the National Judicial Council (NJC) on Justice Oyewole. The Osun State Government has sought the transfer of the services of Justice Olubunmi Oyewole, an indigen of the State, from Lagos State Judiciary to the Judicial service of Osun State. Consequently, the Chief Judge of Lagos State, Justice Ayo Philips sent a memo to the Chief Justice of Nigeria Aloma Miriam Mukhtar to that effect. The CJN took the matter to the NJC of which she is the chairman and penultimate week Thursday at its last meeting, the NJC decided that Justice Oyewole can only effect the desired transfer on the condition that he takes a fresh Oath of office and be resworn in Osun State. This invariably means that he will loose his position in the hierarchy and also loose over 10 years of meritorious service which he has put in the Lagos State Judiciary. This action of the NJC has drawn the ire of legal practitioners who not only see this as anomalous, but also as unprecedented in the history of Judicial service in the country. In a chat with The Nation, Taiwo said: “ I totally disagree with the notion that Justice
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fitting structures in the existing law schools, they now politicized it and went to establish two more campuses at Yola and Bayelsa. So these factors are some of the major factors responsible for the fallen standard of legal education in Nigeria. How do we get out of this? So, there is need by the government to increase the funding of the Nigerian law school so that they will be able to meet up with the challenges facing them. I really appreciate the level of commitment of the current chairman House of Representative committee on Justice and judiciary, Dr. Ahmad Ali who is seriously pushing for more financial resourcing toward that. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) recently deregistered some political parties, what is your reaction to this? Ideally, based on our level of democracy in Nigeria, it was a right step taken by the INEC because, most of these political parties have no any structure on ground, some of them don’t even have permanent offices. So, I support the step taken by the INEC. Specialisation of practice is the global trend now, infact most lawyers are of the view that the era of jack of all trades, master of non is gone, what is your reaction to
this? It is a very good idea generally, but, in the Nigerian context I don’t think that we are ripe enough to start specialization. In short, when you look at the level of bad governance in the country, you will agree with me that it has affected the entire sector of the country. The economy is not growing at all. The various sectors in which people would like to specialize are not growing, they are static. How then can you specialize in a redundant economy, hunger may kill you When you look at the economic sector in Nigeria it is virtually not working at all. All these are attributed to the issue of bad policies and inconsistencies in the policy of government. But, with time when we are ripe for that, we can be able to practice specialization. Justice sector administration has suffered serious setback in the country, how can we remedy this? There are many factors that hinder the administration of justice sector in Nigeria. The most fundamental is the interference from the government, particularly the procedure of the appointment of the members of the Bench be it either the lower courts (Magistrates) or in the higher Bench (Higher Court Judges).
In most cases, those that are appointed as magistrate rise up to became High Court Judges. But in most of the states of the Federation, you will see that a person that was freshly called to the Bar without any practical experience will be appointed as a magistrate. In short, some in the same month they were called to the Bar were appointed as magistrates, you don’t need a prophet to tell you that we will face problems here in the future. Equally, most of the people that have not practiced law from the time they were called to the Bar were appointed as High Court Judges. This trend contributes as some of the challenges confronting the administration of justice sector. The issue of corruption is another factor that affects this sector. How do we resolve this? My prayers are that qualified persons should be appointed as judges for our superior courts. This will definitely strengthen the administration of justice sector. Also, judges with high degree of integrity should be those that will be appointed to sit on election petition tribunals. Again, the judiciary must be independent particularly, financial independence, so that they can function effectively. December 10 was the International Human Rights Day, what do think about human rights situation in the country? Human rights violations have greatly reduced with the advent of democracy in the country. However, in Nigerian context, whenever issues concerning violation of human Right arise, most people direct their fingers to the police, however, I disagree with that. Personally I can say that the Nigerian Police remains one of the best police force in the world. If you look critically on their conditions of service, how they perform their functions without the necessary tools, obsolete and archaic guns, you will agree with me that they are doing their best. Nobody in their shoes would do better. Right from their recruitment, training, welfare etc, you will see that the government is not seriously helping matters with respect to the Police. Then, how do you expect them to perform.
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O.Oyewole must be re-sworn and that he must start all over again. I must state that this is not the first time that a Judge from another jurisdiction will transfer his service to another jurisdiction. “ In Lagos State, Late Justice Ligali Ayorinde transferred to Lagos, he did not forfeit his seniority being the year he was sworn in as a Chief Judge. JusticeO. Adagun(rtd) transferred his service to Lagos State from Maiduguri, he did not lose his seniority. Both of them became Chief Judge of Lagos State. They met other Judges in Lagos but they were given their due position as per when they were sworn in as judges! “Justice A.L.A.L Balogun(rtd) was senior to Late Hon Justice Ayorinde iin the Federal Ministry of Justice. Howeve Justice Ayorinde was sworn in as a Judge before Justice A.L.A.L Balogun. This is just to set the records straight at this time. The judiciary must be insulated from politics!”
• Mrs Ranti Daudu (left) and Mrs Carol Wali at the thanks giving organised by the Daudus to mark Ranti’s 50th birthday anniversary