Doctor in Virginity Test Scandal Unfairly Treated

THISDAY Vol 9 No 29991 Tuesday July 1 2003

Online Reference:
http://www.thisdayonline.com/archive/2003/07/01/20030701law02.html

Law Personality
'Doctor in Virginity Test Scandal Unfairly Treated'


Since Adesina Ogunlana started publishing The Squib Magazine two years ago controversy has dogged him. He told JUDE IGBANOI at his Chambers last week, that the future of legal profession belongs to his generation of lawyers who are prepared to step on toes to restore sanity at the Bar and Bench
The Squib magazine is causing some ripples in legal circles, especially the current edition. As publisher of the magazine, are you surprised that after two years on the newsstands you are just beginning to get noticed?
Well, I wouldn't say we are just getting noticed. From inception, we have been getting attention, though limited to lawyers and the Judiciary. You know the magazine is a pioneer in its field. It's a peculiar publication in Judiciary activism. We have tried to use the press to highlight germane issues in the Judiciary. We have overwhelming support from members of the legal profession.
It's true we started over two years ago. March 22 to be precise. It was a four-page effort at the time and sold for ten Naira, but people bought it and we were encouraged. We are happy that people have come to recognize that if they want to know what is going on in the Lagos Judiciary, The Squib is the authority.
The magazine seems to focus mainly on the Judiciary and is highly critical of judges. What of the Bar and lawyers, you don't seem to pay much attention in that direction?
With due respect, I disagree with that position that we focus mainly on Judges. We focus on the Bar as well. There was an incident when two lawyers fought in the public in a Magistrate's Court, we wrote extensively on it. We did four consecutive editions highlighting the activities of fake lawyers. Not charge-and-bail, but fake lawyers.
We have had occasions to bring to light, some of the unethical practices of lawyers. There was recent incident when a lawyer used the court process in a peculiar manner, where a house worth over 70million was demolished at Ogba. We highlighted it. A lawyer recently aided his client to malign the character of a judge. This magazine investigated and lambasted the counsel involved. Of course, you remember the famous case of Mike Okoye and Justice Ade Alabi. The greatest defender of the judge within the legal circle in Lagos State is The Squib. We ran at least three editions on it.
So, we don't ignore the Bar. But you know it is the head that moves the body. The Bench occupies the position of primacy. We believe that if the head is clean, the body will be clean. Our focus on the judges is not only to criticize them. Those of them who sit on time and those who give fantastic judgments we give credit. We have a regular column for that. We call it speed case law. High Court judgments which you can't ordinarily find in law reports. We say good things about people who deserve it.
There is currently a case against you at the High Court by the Chief Judge of Lagos State. Kindly share with us the genesis of that case and how far it has gone.
There are two cases actually. The first one is at Magisterate Court II Ikeja. It is against ten of my vendors. The other one is a Fundamental Human Rights case that I brought against the Chief Judge of Lagos State in her personal capacity, the Chief Registrar, the Attorney-General of Lagos State and the Commissioner of police. These two cases are interwoven.
What happened was that in November 2001, some my workers came back from the court and reported that security men chased them out of the court premises. It thought it was because we focused on the newly employed security outfit that week. The next day, with my editors, we went out to Ikeja ourselves and the security men wanted to force us out of the court and we resisted. The Chief Registrar whotold me that my magazine had been banned summoned me upstairs. I asked her if other newspapers were allowed to sell in the court premises, she said yes. I told her I was going to sell The Squib.
They brought in policemen on the second day and there was a confrontation. One of my workers was badly injured. A baton was used on her head and it broke into two. The next day their security men could not restrain us, so they brought policemen from Lion Building. The DPO asked them, ‘where is the directive that this magazine should not be sold?’ They showed him and he found that the order was not signed. It was not even dated. He asked them if the order was based on any duly enacted law in Lagos State, they could not answer. They were so ashamed! So the DPO dismissed them and asked us to go and continue with our lawful business.
I thought the matter had ended, but I was surprised that they started chasing me all over the place, from court to court. It was at that time that I felt I couldn’t take it any more. So I went to court and filed a suit to restrain the judicial authority in Lagos State from harassing me and to pay for the unlawful confiscation of my property.
In all this, I must commend the police in this matter because the higher police authority has been very nice in their handling of this matter. They have displayed an understanding of the law. But I can tell you that the Chief Judge whom they listed as the Chief complainant has never showed up in court, since November 2001.
Bearing in mind the personality of the complainant, the Chief Judge, how confident are you that you’ll get a favourable and dispassionate judgement at the end of the case?
Let me tell you this. Whatever label people may give us, we are very optimistic and confident about our Judiciary. That is why we have decided to confront the lion in his den. My belief is that you may not like The Squib, but you must follow the law. As a judge, sworn to an oath, if they call the case of The Squib before you, you may regard The Squib and its publisher as a peculiar mess but once we advocate a good and relevant law, a good judge has no option than to do justice for us.
At any rate, the court is not limited to one tier. If we don’t get justice at the High Court, we’ll go to the Court of Appeal. If we don’t get justice at the Court of Appeal we’ll go to the Supreme Court. You must understand that any judge worth his salt will not want to give a wishy-washy judgement in any case involving a lawyer because at the Court of Appeal that judge will have his integrity dragged on the floor.
So many judges have come under your sharp criticisms in the magazine. What is the attitude of such judges when you appear before them any time you have a matter in their courts?
We have about 55 judges now in Lagos State and the magazine has only focused on a few. Atilade, Wusu, Olugbani, Shitta-Bey and of course the CJ. Wusu and Olugbani are now out of the system. I have never appeared before the CJ, but the ones I have appeared before have been quite courteous.
When I come to court, I believe in clear conscience. I don’t feel victimized. I do my cases very well. I win some and I lose some. I cannot say that any judge the magazine has focused on has victimized me in any way. I must give credit to the judges for that.

The last two editions of The Squib came out with a scoop about the Magistrates who were appointed into the Election Petition Tribunal Panels. From your investigation, would you say the Chief Judge of Lagos State deliberately appointed unqualified Magistrates into the tribunals? Isn’t it possible that it was an oversight on the part of the Chief Judge?
Aaahh! Aaahh! My brother there is no way the Judiciary can be absolved. I think it’s better for the Judiciary to accept, whether it is President of the Court of Appeal or the Chief Judge of Lagos State. Remember it is the President of the Court of Appeal who appoints on the recommendation of the Chief Judge of a state. It is better for them to say that it was done deliberately.

If they come up and say that it was a mistake, an oversight, that means they don’t know their law. It means they are ignorant. A judge who does not know his law, especially its constitutional requirement, having national dimensions and implications that can lead toa constitutional crises that can engulf the whole nation! Aaaah! Aaaah! It is terrible. I don’t believe Umaru Abdullahi JCA does not know his law. I want to believe it was deliberate.

I have spoken informally to Professor Yemi Osibajo, SAN, the Attorney-General of Lagos State. He was of the opinion that it must be a mistake. Then if it is a mistake, that means you are appointing people on a tribunal when it is so clear in the sixth schedule of Section 285 of the Constitution. If nobody checked in Lagos State, does it mean nobody checked in Abuja?
Aaah, aaah! My brother? Remember that honourable Justice Hunponu Wusu is at home today, not because he collected bribe, but because he admitted before the panel that was set up by the NJC that he did not know as a judge after 12 or 15 years on the bench that he ought not to sign an execution of warrant the same day he delivered a judgement. If somebody could be relieved on that basis, well if somebody does not know the constitutional provision to appoint a Magistrate to such a panel, then it’s terrible, it’s terrible! That’s all I can say.

While many lawyers commend your efforts at publishing The Squib, some are of the opinion that the language and your choice of words is unbecoming of our noble profession. They think that the Bench deserves some respect in the style and manner you write about them.
I respect the opinion of these observers. I appreciate it. It does not mean that I accept it. I think they care for the profession too. They feel for the profession too, but I think they are operating from a wrong ideological position. A Greek philosopher once said, ’this person I love, that person I love, but I love the truth more.’ The question we should ask ourselves is what this man is saying, is it the truth? I agree that our profession is noble indeed, but our profession is not greater than the society.

The society is supposed to be the mother of all professions. Every profession is supposed to be a blessing. I am talking of the normal professions, not armed robbery. Now if you are supposed to be a blessing to the society and you now choose to bastardize and prostitute your position and become a curse to that society, do you know how much havoc a corrupt judge can wreak? Do you know the terrible things a corrupt lawyer can do? If we use a language on a judge and we found out that what the judge has done is horrible, all these people criticizing The Squib, what have they done?

A particular judge who is out of the system today, used to be called ‘afternoon judge.’ Many of these lawyers will go and grumble in their chambers. Even the senior lawyers we met in the profession could not do anything until The Squib came. A judge is supposed to be the example for us lawyers, but we found out that there is a lot of hypocrisy in the system. A very senior lawyer of about 34 years at the Bar, I asked him what they had been doing, He said, ‘let’s just leave that.’ Then the profession is getting worse and we young lawyers are suffering.

When people no longer have confidence in the profession they use self help. They go to OPC, MASSOB, Bakassi Boys and Babalawo. They use any other thing except thelaw courts. Then where does that lead us? We don’t get jobs as lawyers and we cannot put food on our table. So this is why we just have to purge the system! I must say that as a reformer, you will not have much time for niceties. Jesus Christ flogged some people out of the temple. Some people will criticize him for that and say it is ungentlemanly, but he is our Lord, he is my Lord. Look at John the Baptist. If they say I am too harsh and sectarian, my plea is that I have predecessors!

You are also into active legal practice but most of the cases you handle are of a controversial nature. It’s on record that you handled the Guru-Maharaji murder case. It’s on record too that you handled the Clifford Orji case of cannibalism. There is also the case of the people who gorged out the eyes of a young girl for rituals and you are currently handling the case of the medical doctor who allegedly conducted a virginity test on secondary school students. Now, how do you find such briefs, or how do such briefs find you?
How do the briefs find me? I believe reputation speaks. It’s not that most of my briefs are controversial. It’s just that occasionally a controversial case comes to me. You just mention only about four or five cases and I have done hundreds of cases. But then it’s reputation mainly. Some of the cases come purely by chance.

The case of the people who gouged out the eyes of a girl, I was in Justice Oduneye’s court and I saw that the accused were not represented by any lawyer. Out of curiousity I just asked and found out they had no lawyer representing them. One of them is Hausa and I can speak a smattering of Hausa. So I asked them if they wanted a lawyer, they said yes and I jumped back into the Bar and said, ‘My Lord I am appearing for these people.’ I was challenged. Not by the enormity of what they did,but that lawyers were running away from defending them.

That case actually, I did free of charge. I only managed to get one of them out because the case was already half way done. I came in late. Later, the Guru-Maharaji case came. The case had been in court and one day the followers of Guru came to my chambers and I was surprised because they had a lawyer already, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria. But they said some lawyers asked them to come to me. People wondered if I was a member of the sect. But I am Christian. I only saw that he had a good case and I took it. As for Clifford Orji, some people brought that to me from the Ministry of Justice, basically because he could not afford the services of a counsel. So I went to defend him. If I was unscrupulous, I would have got him out. Because, you will not believe it, there was nothing in the police file against him! But on personal investigation I found out that he was actually mad. Some people were asking me if I was briefed by some of the people he used to supply human meat and I laughed. There was nothing against him, but I concurred with the prosecution that the man was actually insane. Today he is held at Ikoyi prisons and there are no facilities there for insane inmates unfortunately. He has been there since 1999.

What is the moral judgement of accepting these controversial cases. Some of the cases attract quite a lot of public outcry. Like this case of the medical doctor who is involved in the virginity test scandal. Most other lawyers will not accept such briefs on moral grounds.
What do I understand by morality? You see, morality is different from sentimentality. First, am I a lawyer? I don’t sell land and I don’t sell houses. I enjoy the courtroom war, the intellectual war that is there. The only thing you can accuse me of is I take up a case and I try to pervert justice or I try to colour evidence. If I try to hide evidence or do anything to ensure that my client gets out by all means. That is what I will call immoral. Let the prosecution earn his money.

Look at the case of Guru Maharaji, there was a lot of sensationalism. When I took up the case, it was the belief in legal circles that the Senior Advocate had realized that there was no way that Guru could be brought home free. That was why he left it for a young man who had not made his name, who could afford his name to be dented. That was the press. When you enter the court it’s a different matter entirely. If lawyers are lawyers, what they look at is the case against the accused. You must agree that there are two sides to a story.

In the case of the medical doctor who conducted the virginity test, if as a lawyer you look at what they say on Newsline, NTA and condemn my client, then that lawyer does not know what is fair hearing. See what NTA did. They brought the parents and brought the children. They didn’t make any effort to contact the doctor. Go and read Encomium magazine of yesterday June 24, the same thing. It was only the House of Assembly that invited all the parties. Even then, they summoned the principal of the school, they didn’t summon the doctor. So I insisted that my client will not go there until they serve him a letter. When they served him, we went. They said my client should just say his side of the story before the committee and I said, ‘gentlemen, you don’t do that. Let’s observe the principle of natural justice. Bring the accuser and bring the accusation.’ One of the committee members who is a lawyer, got offended. He said I was bringing the technicalities of the courtroom before the committee. I was really surprised. This is not technicality. This is the principle of natural justice. Jesus said, ‘where are your accusers?’

If you want to accuse my client, go ahead. But you must give him the opportunity to defend himself. What is morality? Go and read your own THISDAY editorial I shook my head when I read it. I don’t think they weighed the story properly.

For instance, I am doing Chief Layi Balogun’s case. Anybody reading that story in the press at that time will think my client is a criminal. But this is the man who bought the wristwatch of Chief Layi Balogun. Really this is a man who sells wristwatches. He has a shop and they came and sold the wristwatch to him. Even the man who sold the wristwatch to him said he did not know it was stolen property. Can you believe that the police is not charging that man who sold, but they are charging the man who bought!

From the perspective of The Squib, you seem to believe that the bane of our Judiciary is corruption. In your opinion, what do we need to reform in our Judiciary and how do we go about it?
Thank you. If you use the word corruption, it’s just to envelope it. Inefficiency is part of it. If the Judiciary is corrupt, it’s because the society itself is corrupt. Why is the society corrupt? It’s because there are people who see criminality from the position of morality. But I tend to see criminality differently. The country is very poor. In 1995, when I was doing my court attachment in Honourable Justice Ope-Agbe’s court, he told us in chambers that if not that people like him love the job, they would not be on the Bench. As at 1995, he said his salary was less than 5,000 Naira. That apart from the big house they give them at Ikoyi and the police escort, they have children in the universities. These are judges presiding over cases where people can come and offer them gratification.

When you give judicial officers living wages, you will stem corruption. If you want to improve the Judiciary, there has been too much of a focus on judges. Professor Yemi Osinbajo and Governor Bola Tinubu deserve commendation for what they have done so far for the Judiciary. But if you really want to improve the Judiciary, the remuneration should not be limited to the judges. What of the Registrars? You find that in Lagos state the total package for a judge is now about 300,000 a month. Yet you still find Registrars receiving less than 15,000 a month. I don’t think it’s fair!

The NBA should wake up! We have a rather docile NBA. People write letters everyday about the misdemeanors of lawyers and nothing gets done much. I am not talking about the disciplinary committee at the national level. Even the local Bar! When you write a petition against a lawyer in the local Bar, they settle it amongst themselves. That is not fair. The lawyers don’t want to rock the boat. You see charge-and-bail lawyers. Look at Ikeja High Court, swimming in iniquity, in the Magistrate Court area! You see lawyers doing charge-and-bail, running after ambulances, some dressing badly and the NBA cannot do anything.

A case was reported to me recently of a lawyer actually appearing before a judge without a coat! He used his gown to cover his shirt! When Chief Idowu Sofola, SAN sees you improperly dressed he will call you and admonish you.

Look at the wind that would have swept off Justice Ade Alabi. The lawyer, though he has apologized, that was just to escape criminal conviction. What has the NBA done about it? Look at some lawyers standing trial for 419, whose names have become synonymous with 419, what has the NBA done? It is me who is publishing Squib that they said they want to flush out of the system!

It is only a multi-dimensional approach that can help the Judiciary. Good people should be appointed. Look at what is happening in Lagos state. Many of the newly appointed judges have shamed their critics. Most of them displayed if not necessarily brilliance, but intelligence. I can mention names. Dada is exemplary, Obadina, Coker, Oyewole, Gbajabiamila, Oshodi and Abiru. He was transferred to Badagry as a punitive measure and the loss of Ikeja has become the gain of Badagry, very hardworking. He has transformed the place.

We don’t want judges whom people will nickname Ghana-must-go! We don’t want judges who will sit at 1.p.m or judges who don’t know their law, who will say, ‘let me go and consult my senior’ before he delivers a ruling. The NBA must focus on discipline within the Bar. What I am doing now is what the NBA is supposed to be doing. Practicing and publishing a magazine every week. As there are judges who are irresponsible to their oath of office, they will have to deal with people like us. We have been called names. We have been called thugs. But this profession and the future of Nigeria belong to people like us! If we don’t fight this corruption and inefficiency, it will tell on us in time to come. That is my message.