Thread by @OrjiUka

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria who knows, or reasonably ought to know, that ex parte orders have limited life span, typically 7-14 days, asked a court to make an order freezing the accounts of Nigerian citizens for 120 days! And a judge who is deemed to know better granted 90 days!

Apologies, the learned Silk actually asked for the accounts to be frozen for 180 days!

Yesterday I was talking about how Nigeria's political class learns something, from say the UK, only to turn it into something unrecognisable, typically an instrument of subjugation. And this applies is virtually all aspects of our daily lives. One of such is the rank of SAN.

The SAN rank was copied from the United Kingdom, where they have the equivalent of Queen's Counsel (or King's Counsel). Elevation to that highly revered rank is based on merit and the conferees ought to represent practitioners who have distinguished themselves in law practice.

Those conferred with Queen's Counsel have certain privileges in the UK e.g. they sit within the inner bar of court. The rank also comes with great responsibility. You are already a Minister in the Temple of Justice. Now you have a higher office. You dare not mislead the court!

The UK Justice system is already notorious for their penchant for awarding massive costs against parties who file frivolous applications. They don't stop at that. They don't hesitate to report Barristers who file silly papers or make silly arguments to the Bar Standards Board.

That is what we inherited from the UK through the accident of colonial history. But what do we practice here in Nigeria? Something completely unrecognisable. We have SANs who are demigods, who a number of Judges are afraid to stand up to. It is a recipe for disaster!

An example. The law in Nigeria is that where a court lacks jurisdiction to entertain an action, the court should strike out (not dismiss the case). You can only dismiss a case after you have heard it on the merit. Striking out allows the person refile in the appropriate court.

That is the general position. In the Federal High Court in particular, the FHC Act says in fact a court should NOT strike out an action where it finds that it lacks jurisdiction. The appropriate order to make is to transfer the action to the appropriate court. That's justice.

You know what? Up till yesterday I can bet you that a lawyer somewhere including Senior Advocates of Nigeria, would have filed an application asking the FHC to dismiss a suit because the court doesn't have jurisdiction. I have witnessed it twice. Sadly, some judges fall for it.

SANs who mislead the court ought to be punished by the court with massive costs, to be paid personally by that SAN. SANs who habitually mislead the court ought to be stripped of that rank. But a judge must first be knowledgeable before he can know he is being misled 🤷🏾‍♂️

As is the case with every aspect of our national life. We want the privileges that come with certain positions. But we are not eager to carry out the concomitant responsibilities. And one instance where we have even exceeded the privileges, again is the rank of SAN.

If I remember correctly, the only thing the Rules of Professional Conduct provides is that an SAN is entitled to have his case that is scheduled for MENTION to be heard out of turn. But these days, the rank of SAN is an instrument of oppression aided by the Judges.

TwitterNg is replete is many instances where lawyers have complained that they spent the entire day in court only for the Judge to hear the SANs in court and ask other lesser mortals to "take a date" and come back another time. There is no point boring you with more examples.

Let me end by quoting the essentric Eric Cantona who in turn quoted Williams Shakespeare, "as flies to wanton boys, are we to the gods. They kill us for their sport". Majority of Nigerian Lawyers are at the mercy of the alliance between Judges & SANs. But it won't be so forever.