Ajimobi not a first-class governor — Akinjide Legal icon, Richard Akinjide, tells OLUFEMI ATOYEBI about the Peoples Democratic Party and the legal profession How would you describe your early days in the legal profession? I was called to the English Bar in February 1956 and the Nigerian Bar in April 1956. Since then, I have been practising law. For the purpose of the legal profession, I belong to three jurisdictions: the English, Nigerian and Gambian Bar. Your family seems to love law? Yes, in my family, we have 10 lawyers. Law is what we adore and worship. It’s the root of many breakthroughs. I would not have been what I am today if not for the enormous contribution of the legal profession, which is very sacred and noble. If you look at all the great countries of the world: the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Germany, South Africa, Australia, Canada, Malaysia, Indonesia and so on, you will find that the law profession contributed enormously to their greatness. It’s what the Romans call indispensable; I respect the profession and I will continue to do so. The greatest asset in the legal profession, as far as I am concerned, is the command of English language. A lot of people think that the knowledge of the law should be the number one quality that a person aspiring to study law should have, but I don’t accept that. What is critical is the command of the English language. Next to that is the command of the English law. If you are able to combine all these, you will be excellent on the job; the sky will also be the limit for you. In addition to all these, you must know something about everything. You must have the knowledge of history and geography of almost everything in life because whatever problems arise in any area of life, there is the possibility that it will be taken to court for clarification. In agriculture, engineering, business, manufacturing and all aspects of life, law is relevant and important. Did you influence your children to study law? I allow my children to choose what they want to study in school and whatever they want to do. For instance, some of my grandchildren are into banking. I have a son who is in the property business. I have others who are in various professions. Although we love the law profession in the family, we are not imprisoned to a particular profession. In our approach to life, we try to be very global, but the widest-spread we have is in law. How would you rate the contribution and performance of the legal profession in fighting corruption during the past four decades in Nigeria? First of all, I believe the law profession has made the greatest contribution to politics in this country and it started from 1860. If you examine everything critically, you will realise that law has been the launch pad of everything. If you look at some of the greatest men in public service in this country, you will find that they are lawyers. Accepted, there are non-lawyers who are also great and have contributed to the development of Nigeria, but the launch pad as I said is law. In everything, the profession has helped Nigeria solve its problems. There were politicians who were paraded before the law for corruption and other offences in Nigeria, but were set free. But these same people were tried and convicted elsewhere like in the UK. How do we reconcile these conflicting judgments? That is the rule of law. You can accept or refuse to accept the pronouncement of law in cases. But if you choose not to accept it, you can file for appeal. That is the law. But when you reach the highest court like the Supreme Court, you must accept whatever judgment you get there. It is final unless you go to the parliament to change it. For many decades, you have been in the forefront of the legal profession. Does it mean you have never lost a case in court? Oh no, certainly there were times I lost cases and won them too. I am not aware of any lawyer in the world that has won all his cases or that has not lost any. Lawyers win cases and lose cases. How did you feel when you lost cases? The law provides that you can appeal when you lose a case; so, you explore the possibility that is open. If your client wants you to go ahead, you can file for an appeal. But if you are satisfied with the judgment of the court, you will accept it. Former Peoples Democratic Party chairman, Bamanga Tukur, had a turbulent period in office until he recently resigned. As a member of the party’s Board of Trustees, what are the things you think he did not do well while in office? I don’t want to go into that at the moment. Tukur has resigned and handed over to someone else. I think we should rally round the new chairman and give him the support he needs so that he can do extremely well. I will give 100 per cent support because I believe he will succeed. Tukur’s resignation and the wranglings in the party are coming at a time the Independent National Electoral Commission is releasing the next general elections timetable. Do you think one year is enough for PDP to reorganise its home? There is no question of reorganisation. Right now, PDP is thoroughly reorganised. Don’t believe what the newspapers are writing or what the radio and television are saying about the party. PDP remains the most solid and greatest party in Africa and it will win the presidential and governorship elections in 2015. I can tell you categorically that our party will still remain the most dominant political party in Africa. I have no doubt about that. What about the South-West that has been lost to the All Progressives Congress and the Labour Party? Are you sure you can bounce back in that area? PDP never lost any election in the South-West. Victory was taken away from the PDP through dishonesty and manipulation of the system, particularly of the judiciary. I would not like to go back to that now. There are those who are in office now who know that they do not deserve to be there. What I am going to tell you is, let us wait and see what will happen in future elections. Let it be free, fair and noble, and then you will see what is going to happen. You talked about PDP’s reorganised house and the expected victory in the next elections. Don’t you think the defection of your governors, lawmakers and other members to APC is a signal that the party is in trouble? As far as I am concerned, it is not proper for a member of a party to suddenly move to another party. I believe we have not lost anyone. Go and read the constitution of the country. If you want to move from one party to the other, there are certain things that must happen. I have been reading the newspapers and magazines, listening to the radio and watching television stations. What I have realised is that a lot of things were discussed childishly by the media. You cannot be elected a governor and wake up one day and say you are going to another party. Our constitution does not allow that. I enjoin you to take a copy of the Nigerian Constitution and read it very well. As far as I am concerned, no PDP member has gone to the APC. It’s a media analysis that I do not accept. But it seems Nigerians have accepted it and the law is powerless in stopping those defecting? We have not accepted anything. Maybe you (the media) have accepted it but I have not and I am certain many people have not accepted it. I will not say more than that now. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo wrote a letter to President Goodluck Jonathan and raised some issues. What is your position on those issues? In the first place, my objection is that Obasanjo should never have released that letter to the newspapers. I have no objections to a former president writing Jonathan. It is legitimate and it is done all over the world but I object to the release of the letter to the newspapers. Obasanjo argued that he had written other letters to Jonathan that were not acknowledged or replied… Presidents all over the world write themselves and in fact, some of them never see the light of the day. Some of them are put on embargo. You must learn to have what we call culture and ethics of the profession. That is where Obasanjo went wrong. He was right to address those issues but he was wrong in putting the letter in the media and I will defend that anywhere in the world. What about the issues Obasanjo raised in the letter? A lot of things are wrong in them. But I will not like to analyse it now. I came to politics when I returned from England at the age of 24. I have since been involved in politics until now. I have seen many governments and gone through a lot of secret things in government. I was a federal Minister of Education under Tafawa Balewa, I was an Attorney-General under former President Shehu Shagari. I have gone through a lot of secrecy while in government and I didn’t disclose them to my wife or children. When you are in government, you take an oath of office and that oath enjoins you to keep certain secrets forever. In some cases, there is an embargo for five or more years depending on the norms. Many people don’t understand those rules and some understand them but ignore them, but that is very irresponsible in my view. Is it true Obasanjo has no moral right to write Jonathan on the issues he raised because he also committed some of the sins while in government? There is no person in government who is a saint. I have been in government twice and I cannot claim to be a saint. We are all human beings. Sometimes we make mistakes that are not done deliberately. It has happened in the US and all over the world. That is normal. A few weeks ago, you hosted some elders of PDP in the South-West at your home in Ibadan. Was this meeting a direct response to the one held a week earlier in Ibadan, which had Kashamu Buruji in attendance? It was not a response to any other meeting. I summoned the meeting in my house and it was well-attended by members throughout the South-West. It was also well-received in Abuja. We are going to host more of such meetings. Anybody can read any meaning to it but the meeting will be attended by those who are summoned. It will continue to be useful because the praises we have received have encouraged us to continue. Are you comfortable with the role Kashamu is playing in the party especially now that some people like Obasanjo have kicked against his membership and role in the party? I have never met that Kashamu. I don’t even know him. Some people said he came from Lagos State and some said he came from Ogun State. But I don’t know him. Anybody is free to join PDP. I have no personal problem with him because I don’t know him. As a member of the PDP BoT, are you aware of any agreement that stated that Jonathan would spend one term in office? I am not aware of such an agreement and anyone who claims to have seen it should provide it. How do you perceive the proposed national conference? There is nothing wrong with holding a conference if it concerns national interest and is held in the appropriate manner. You cannot stop people in politics from talking and meeting. It is normal. Is there a law backing it? You don’t need law to summon meetings. If it’s a political meeting, you are free to hold it. Do you think the conference can solve the country’s problems? Certainly, it will because this is a country recognised by everyone. Do you think Nigeria needs a new constitution or only needs to amend the existing one? We do not need a new constitution all the time. When the US got independence from Britain, the country wrote a constitution. It did not follow the British or France system. It did what no nation has ever done by writing its own constitution and adopted a kind of presidential system of government that is acceptable to them. In Nigeria, people talk of a system similar to the US but that is not true. We copied some aspects from the US and the British system. Our system is a mix-marriage of many systems and if we have to amend it later, we will do so. How do we tackle insecurity and corruption ravaging in the country? Those two issues come out in the governance of all nations of the world. Your daughter, Jumoke, is the Minister of State, FCT. How much of your support is she getting? She is a first-class citizen and a first-class child. She is one of the best Nigeria has produced because she graduated first-class from Harvard University and all her certificates are first-class. Her daughter is following in her footsteps. She has a double first-class degree in Classics from Oxford University and she’s now in Harvard. She also has another daughter who just finished from Cambridge University a with first-class in her study. In our family, we have a pedigree for first class. How would you rate the government of Abiola Ajimobi in Oyo State? I would give him average. I know the governor very well but he is not first-class. I wish he could do better. Do you think a PDP government would have done better? We would have done far better. Don’t you think there will be problems in Oyo State PDP because of the many candidates already making their intentions known to run for the governorship election? It is too early to talk about a candidate for the party. Let those candidates begin to announce themselves. As for the posters, it’s part of noise-making. Are you aware there are two factions of PDP in the state? We are working extremely hard to make sure everything is unified. Before long, they will be unified and PDP will remain solid.
Posted on: Sun, 02 Feb 2014 08:26:44 +0000
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