06 May 2009 |
|
Justice Kayode Eso: An Appreciation By Reuben Abati
I have given that advice some thought so I do not end up like that proverbial Professor who was invited to give a speech, and not minding the demands of etiquette and decorum decided to deliver a long lecture in which he was so absorbed that he did not notice when his audience melted away one by one. By the time he looked up from the lectern, there was only one man left in the hall - it was the janitor who dutifully informed him that he was waiting to lock the door! The best way to handle a tricky situation such as this, and to ensure that a short speech does not end up becoming a lecture, I once listened to Mr Jonathan Majiyagbe, the first black man to be elected President of Rotary International worldwide explain, is for the speaker to raise his left leg and hide it behind the lectern, the moment you begin to feel like putting that leg down and you start feeling some discomfort, then it is time to end the speech. So, I shall raise my left leg. But candidly, it is difficult to resist the temptation to say a lot about the life and times of Justice Kayode Eso and the significance of his example. So much has been written about the man already - tributes in newspapers, chapters in books, articles in journals with perhaps the most comprehensive of all these being a book titledKayode Eso: The Making of a Judge, edited by J.F.Ade Ajayi and Yemi Akinseye-George. A man of letters and a public intellectual, the eminent jurist has himself told his own story significantly through his robust career on and off the Bench, through his judgements, his involvement with society as a critic and analyst, through his relationship with others and particularly through his prodigious writings, including The Nigerian Grundnorm (1986); Thoughts on Law and Jurisprudence (1991), Anatomy of Justice (1991), The Mystery Gunman (1995) and Further Thoughts on Law and Jurisprudence (2003). He has been described as the “Lord Denning” of Nigeria, and as “one of the greatest analytical minds to have ever sat on the Supreme Court Bench”. He has also been described as a “Distinguished Patriot”. He has earned these accolades and deserves even more for he is clearly a national asset and an institution, a jurist of the highest distinction, a man whose example is set apart by his reputation for unquestionable integrity, prodigious intellectual output, courages, and decency. For more than 50 years, Justice Kayode Eso has been a significant and relevant presence in the Nigerian public sphere. C H S Fifoot says “a judge’s memorial must be sought in his judgements”. This is true, and to the legal profession, his main constituency, Justice Eso has remained committed, but he is just as distinguished in all the other aspects of life in which he is engaged. It can be said of him that he is truly blessed. Nineteen years after his retirement as a Justice of the Supreme Court, he has done almost as much, delivered as many lectures, chaired as many panels of enquiry, and written even a lot more than he did in his 36 years in active service. At 83, he remains very active, highly in demand, and yet he continues to bring to every assignment such diligence and thoroughness for which he has always been known. He continues to prove the point about how character is the real substance of a man’s individuality, his life outside retirement should provide good instruction for those who are seeking a new life of relevance after retirement. But it is not retirement that has made the man, researchers should look more closely into his background and character, and the essence of his persona and personality. I’ll begin with one example. I get invited now and then to public events. Whenever I see the names of three particular old men or any one of them on the invitation card or guest list, I immediately realize that this would be one event where the concept of “African time” is not applicable. The three old men in question: Mr Akintola Williams, Justice Kayode Eso, and Mr Gamaliel Onosode always manage to arrive on time. They are ever so punctual. I have attended events where they were already seated before the organizers showed up later with a lorry load of apologies about how the traffic held them up or the man with the programme delayed them. My most recent encounter with the Hon Justice Kayode Eso was at the launch of The Eagle in its Flight - the memoirs of the late Justice Sir Udo Udoma, his friend and also a former Justice of the Supreme Court. He was Chairman of the occasion. I need not add that he arrived at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs in Lagos, the venue of the event, all the way from Ibadan, long before those of us who lived in Lagos began to saunter in one after the other. I have only caught Mr Akintola Williams arriving late at an event once, and that was about three weeks ago at an event organized by the Nigeria LNG, but it turned out he was coming from another equally important event, and he had to juggle the cards to be in two places in one evening. I am still waiting for the day Justice Eso will observe the “African time” but I guess even if that were to happen, it would be most exceptional and with good reason. Justice Kayode Eso and his friends belong to a different age: the age of discipline, integrity and dutifulness. My generation, the generation of their children and grandchildren belongs to the age of excuses, and it is a measure of the collapse of values in the Nigerian society. Nigeria is now at a crossroads where anything is possible and everything can be rationalised. Nigerians today are not too impressed with the principles and benchmarks of old, they are ever-ready with explanations for corruption, indolence, rape, prostitution, incompetence, and even ignorance. Consider for example the pervasive example of the new set of Nigerian leaders and the nouveaux riche for whom “African time”, that is - arriving late at every event, is seen as a sign of importance and power. State Governors and Federal officials arrive late routinely at public events, including their own. They may send what is called the “advance team” whose duty it is to ensure that lesser human beings are already seated before the Big Man arrives. When that Big man whose only claim to importance was probably secured through a rigged election or some other subterfuge eventually shows up, the event is disrupted, and it may even be suspended for the National Anthem to be taken. And everyone else is expected to be grateful. Justice Kayode Eso in one of his lectures titled “Leadership, Democracy and Corruption” delivered to mark the 20th post-humous anniversary of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo in Lagos in 2007, provides a long list of credible, past Nigerian leaders, and concedes that there are still true and capable leaders in the corridors of government. But the bigger truth is that we now live in a new age, where in the larger society, to borrow from J. P. Clark, the “hero is villain”, and the villain has become a hero. There is currently an attempt to address this cultural failure and the Ministry of Information and Communication under the watch of Professor Dora Akunyili has been talking about a project titled “Rebranding Nigeria”: perhaps a better starting point is to play up national icons like Justice Kayode Eso, and use their examples to redirect a misguided nation towards the path of leadership, values and integrity. There is that apocryphal story about a certain community where it was decided that all old men and women should be killed so that the young could take charge. But one young man decided to hide his own father in the loft. When soon enough the community ran into great trouble with the conquering force of a neighbouring village, and no one could provide a solution to the crisis, the young can who had refused to kill his own father went to him in the loft, and it was from this old man that the community found the compass for resolving its dilemma. What Nigeria needs is not necessarily rebranding in a semiotic sense, but a renaissance, in form of quality leadership and good governance - such renewal that can multiply the Kayode Esos in our land and recreate the objective cultural conditions that produced them, granted that culture is understood here in its much broader sense. Now, what is it that makes the Hon. Justice Kayode Eso so significant? The Hon Justice was born in Ilesa, Osun state of Nigeria on Friday, September 18, 1925. He attended the Holy Trinity School, Omofe, Ilesa and Ilesa Grammar School, before proceeding to the Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, where he obtained the Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree and a moderatorship in Legal Science with a B.A (honours) degree in October 1953. In 1956, he was awarded a Master of Arts degree. A consistent prize winner, he won the Michaelmas Prize in Constitutional Law in 1949, the Criminal Law Prize in 1950 and the Silver Medal in Legal Composition in 1952. He was called to the English Bar, Lincoln’s Inn in 1954 and to the Nigerian Bar in December of the same year. Almost immediately, he returned to Nigeria to set up a private legal practice not in Lagos or Ibadan, but Jos in the Northern part of Nigeria. With his partner, Mr Abdul Dabiri, Kayode Eso Esq as he was then known, handled a number of cases, including defending black miners in Jos who were protesting against the discriminatory practices of the British colonial authorities. In 1960, lawyer Eso returned to Lagos and took up a job with the Department of Foreign Affairs as a protocol officer, but he soon abandoned this job to join the Western Nigeria Ministry of Justice in Ibadan as a Senior Crown Counsel Grade II. He became in 1961, a Senior State Counsel, in 1962, Principal Crown Counsel, in 1965, Legal Draftsman, and the same year, he was appointed a High Court Judge. Two years later, he became a judge of the Western Region Court of Appeal; in 1967, he became the acting President of the Court, and in 1976, following the establishment of Oyo state, he was appointed the first Chief Justice of the new state. In 1979, he was appointed a Judge of the Supreme Court of Nigeria. He retired from active service in September 1990, upon his attainment of the mandatory retirement age of 65 years for judges. Thus, the distinguished jurist spent a total of 36 years in active practice as a legal practitioner and judge - twelve of those years on the Bench of the Supreme Court. Much has been said and written about Justice Eso’s tenure as a Justice of the Supreme Court where he delivered a total of 463 judgments, 390 of which were concurring judgments, 69 lead judgments and 4 dissenting judgements. The Honourable Justice Eso is one of those judges who helped to build the Supreme Court of Nigeria into a formidable institution. Those men in whose hands, the law was pressed to service in defence of the social order and the rights of every man. The Supreme Court of Nigeria has a long list of star performers - Chukwudifu Oputa, Philip Nnaemeka-Agu, Anthony Idigbe, Andrews Obaseki, Adolphus Karibi-Whyte, Anthony Aniagolu, Teslim Elias, Darnley Alexander, Udo Udoma… Kayode Eso is one of them. He was a judge at a time when judges spoke and they were obeyed, when court orders translated into unquestionable authority. But it is sad that so much has changed in the administration of justice in Nigeria as in the country itself. Only recently, a Judge of the Lagos High Court had to practically wield the judicial sword, to get a Beauty Queen – Miss Ibinabo Fiberesima, former winner of the Silver Bird Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria pageant who had been convicted on a charge of manslaughter – to show up in court. The learned judge had to insist that the court of law is not a respecter of beauty crowns, it took at least two weeks before her order that the Beauty Queen should be remanded in prison custody, pending the determination of her appeal for bail and stay of execution, was obeyed. Justice Kayode Eso would have done the same or worse. He earned his reputation for his capacity to deliver justice and to defend the rule of law confidently. His commitment was not to tribal sentiments or ideology or tendencies, or friendship or filial connections, but to the cause of justice. Where the law in its technical sense stood in the path of justice, Eso was noted for his liberalism. He frowned upon the use of the law to promote absurdity or injustice or over-reliance on technicalities and strict constructionism. He was more interested in substance rather than form. For him the distinction between lege lata and lege feranda (the law as it is and the law as it should be) was determined by the conviction that justice must be seen not only to have been done but to have been manifestly done. He was not a judge of compromise but of reason. For this, he has been justly hailed as the apostle of judicial activism as opposed to judicial restraint. What is being referred to essentially is Eso’s courage, his preparedness to interprete the law in a manner that lends forceful effect to the lawmaker’s original intention. In 1965, it was his duty to hear the case of treasonable felony preferred against the writer and social critic, Wole Soyinka in the now celebrated “mystery gunman” case in the Western region. There had been subtle pressures from all official quarters, certain powerful figures wanted Wole Soyinka to be convicted and taught a lesson. The Western region was a febrile political arena at the time, with knife-edge partisan loyalties on display. The learned Judge bluntly refused to succumb to all pressures. Relying strictly on the weight of evidence before him, he dismissed the case for lack of evidence. He tells part of this story in his autobiographical book, The Mystery Gunman. A deconstruction of his various rulings as Supreme Court Justice, reveals a rigorous application of the law as social modulator, a sensitivity to the responsibility of judex and the Constitution as grundnorm as well as the place/function of counsel in the temple of Justice. He served for the most part under the military dispensation, yet he was a fine epitome of his own avowal that no judge must suffer fools gladly, and that every judge like Caesar’s wife must be above board. In his usually analytical, lucid and erudite judgements, he often railed against executive recklessness and impunity of any shape even as he laced every submission with much philosophy and literary taste. His oeuvre as a judge is rich and varied, covering a broad range of legal issues. It includes Fawehinmi vs Akilu (1987), Senator Abraham Adesanya v The President, and Attorney General of Bendel State v. Attorney General of the Federation (1981), in each of these cases, he pronounced on the subject of locus standi and access to justice. In Government of Lagos state v. Ojukwu (1986) he addressed the issue of executive recklessness, in Ariori v Elemo (1983) - the importance of speedy trial as an important aspect of fair hearing. In Garba v. Federal Civil Service Commission (1988) - the need for the military to respect due process. In Nwobodo v Onoh (1983) - the standard of proof in civil cases and in Adigun v Attorney General of Oyo state - the test of the ordinary man for determining whether or not, justice has been seen to have been done. But perhaps his most celebrated case is the much-quoted Shagari v. Awolowo concerning the 1979 Presidential election where he was the only dissenting judge out of seven. Eso had disagreed with the Presidential election tribunal and his brother Judges on the interpretation of what constitutes twelve two thirds of the then 19 states of Nigeria. Dissenting judgments sometimes prove to be of far greater import and juristic weight than the concurrence of the majority, and so it was in this particular instance. “That was the case that brought me to the limelight”, Justice Eso once told a newspaper reporter. In Governor of Lagos State v. Ojukwu, (op cit), he had declared that “the essence of the rule of law is that it should never operate under the rule of force or fear. To use force to effect and act and while under the marshall of that force to seek the court’s equity is an attempt to infuse timidity into court and operate a sabotage of the cherished rule of law. It must never be.” Justice Eso’s engagement with the public space off the Bench, includes his chairmanship of various Commissions of Inquiry, the acceptance of responsibilities in the Church, and the support of educational projects and causes. In 1989, he was appointed by the Obasanjo administration, Head of the National Committee on Corruption and Other Economic Crimes in Nigeria which was set up by the Babangida administration which could not summon the courage to act on the Report of the Committee. But a decade later, that same report provided the material for the establishment of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Offences Commission (ICPC) by the Obasanjo administration. In 1993, the Abacha government had also appointed Eso to head a panel that was saddled with the responsibility of making recommendations on judicial reform. The committee’s findings and recommendations were so radical that the government of the day simply ignored the report. However, one of the panel’s submissions was that a National Judicial Council should be set up and this was reflected six years later in the 1999 Constitution. A former Pro-Chancellor of the University of Benin (1991 – 1998), Justice Eso has also served as President, Association of Arbitrators of Nigeria, Chancellor, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, chair of a panel on students cultism and secret societies at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife (1999), Patron, Nigerian Conflict and Management Group (NCMG) and life member, Body of Benchers. His most recent intervention was his chairmanship of the Rivers State Truth and Reconciliation Commission which was set up by the Rotimi Amaechi-led administration in Rivers State to among others, investigate the sources of dissension within the state, forge reconciliation and make recommendations to the state government. The panel met with hundreds of witnesses, sat in Port Harcourt and Abuja, and in the report that has since been submitted by the Committee, Justice Eso minced no words in speaking the truth, as he saw it, including referring to Dr. Peter Odili, the past immediate Governor of the state, as insincere. On March 10, 2009, Eso spelled out the panel’s methodology for public assessment. In addition, he said: With reference to our integrity, it is sad that our integrity has been so glibly attacked, or put in doubt, by Sir Odili, without producing or attempting to produce an iota of evidence in regard to his ominous accusations. He did this to the hearing of the world qua NTA, which aired our proceedings, and we are obliged to answer this accusation here now at our only opportunity, lest silence be taken as consent. If the former Governor, Dr. Odili, had convinced himself that our integrity was in doubt without evidence. The rules anywhere in the democratic world, practicing the rule of law, do not permit a slaughter of people’s integrity, without at least, trying to justify the accusation by the production of some evidence however infinitesimal. These gentlemen and lady, whom I have the honour to lead, have the highest reputation and their integrity is untarnished. On integrity, they have won their spurs ever before being asked to come into this commission. As for our humble selves, it is with the greatest humility and praise to God, that we are able to declare that, on record, throughout our public life, which has spanned over half a century, nobody, friend or foe, domestically, nationally or internationally, has ever cast doubt on our hard earned integrity. With us, it has always been the Shakespearian melody of – Set honour in one eye and death in the other and I will look at both indifferently. That is how much premium we put on honour and it is that credo that advised us to have accepted this assignment, notwithstanding its being set within the din of battle, insurgency and threats of death. However, having regard to the delicacy and sensitivity of the work in hand, it is our decision not to be ruffled by this ridiculous accusation, nor influenced to bend out of our objectivity and impartiality. No one among us could be moved to do the wrong thin by blackmail. How instructive. Easily one of the most quoted and quotable persons on the burning issues of Nigerian nationhood, Justice Eso In public lectures, newspaper articles and interviews, continues to speak up with accustomed clarity. The platform of engagement may be varied: the All Nigeria Judges Conference, Awo’s memorial birthday, the Teslim Elias Memorial Lecture, the NCMG Peace Awards, Chief Rotimi Williams’ 60 years at the Bar anniversary and so on, but always the Eso stamp is unmistakable, an attribute that has been justly recognized with the establishment of a group known as “the Kayode Eso Society.” Even at the old age of 83, he is sought after by the younger generation for whom he plays the continuing role of father and mentor. The Hon. Justice Eso is a self-made man. He has been quoted as tracing his life and career to four main influences: his father - Emmanuel Eso, his school Principal at Ilesa Grammar School - the late Rev J. O. A. Lahanmi his wife - Aina Eso and his friend - Dr Festus Ajayi. Eso’s relationship with his wife and his stable family life deserves special notice. He says of his wife for example: “My wife gave me the greatest peace and comfort anybody could wish for… She would not permit anybody to give me stress. She absorbed the stress by herself without reference to me. She used to say that I was her only patient.” The couple got married in 1954. Without a doubt, the doctor has done well and the patient is a most lucky man indeed, For all his cosmopolitanism and intellectual achievements however, Eso’s reality is well-rooted in his native Ijesa background where he is certainly one of that community’s most remarkable gifts to the legal profession and to the world. His fellow Ilesa and Ijesa compatriots point to genetic communal coding as the source of his legendary courage. This “Ijesa characteristic” in Eso’s view means “an Ijesa man would say the truth, even if the heavens would fall and be ready for whatever would happen thereafter to avoid being taken unawares”. What stands out is Eso’s own individual resolve. And no one explains this better than the Hon. Justice Emmanuel Ayoola, current Chairman of the ICPC and in his own right a distinguished jurist when he wrote of Justice Eso as follows: “Some talk of justice as a jurisprudence or philosophical subject and do not live it. To Kayode Eso, justice is a passion. It rules his thoughts, it rules his daily relationship, it rules his conduct. In short, to him, justice is a way of life. Many do not know it. Justice is his strength! His commitment to justice gives him courage where others would have crumbled. I always remind him of an event, and he always told me that he could not remember it. I was handling a difficult armed robbery case involving a rather notorious but well-known character that most persons in Ibadan would have wanted to be rid of. There was no admissible evidence against him. I was troubled by the fact that should I release him there would be a public outcry. Faced with this dilemma, I went to seek the opinion of my chief judge, Justice Kayode Eso. I was only a few months on the bench. I narrated the fact to him, stated what I believed was the law and said I was worried. He wore an embarrassingly indifferent look as if I was bothering him. I was concerned that he did not seem to share my anxiety. I was right. All he muttered was: “Yes?” I said, “if I released him there would be public outcry. Public opinion is very much against this fellow.” He said, dryly, ‘You don’t convict people on public opinion, do you?” With that single statement, he dismissed what to me then was a crisis of some magnitude! That stuck with me till this day.” That was Eso. But the times are changing. The Nigerian judiciary in contemporary times continues to witness sordid situations in which judgements are given in deference to pressures from different quarters and increasingly, this is a regular occurrence – the effect of which can be traced in part to the resort to self-help as a means of accessing justice. Quite a number of frightened judges have had to abandon cases they consider too sensitive, the wheel of justice still grinds too slowly and “the Golden Age” of the Nigerian judiciary seems to be long gone. It is an institution in crying need of renewal. For, if the ordinary man were to lose faith completely in the capacity and readiness of the Courts to deliver justice, it is society itself that is imperiled. Justice Kayode Eso has been criticized for being too stern, unyielding, and predictable. In the Rivers State Truth and Reconciliation case, he was accused of bias by those not favoured by his report. His critics however represent a tiny, insignificant minority; the Justice Eso that we know, and that is celebrated by all and sundry, is a man of unblemished integrity. Presented at the investiture of the Distinguished Patriot Award on Hon. •Justice Kayode Eso, CON, LLR, LITT.D. by the Nigerian Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ), Premier Hotel, Ibadan, April 21, 2009.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
On my way to Ibadan for this event in honour of the Honourable Justice Mr Samuel Kayode Eso, retired justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, Commander of the Order of the Niger, a Nigerian icon, distinguished jurist, man, legend and a colossus, a good friend had advised me rather prosaically that a dinner speech is meant to be like a lady’s skirt, short enough to be elegant, and long enough to cover all the essential aspects.
# 
Your Comments
Please make The Square an enjoyable experience for everyone by refraining from gratuitous ad-hominem contributions, defamatory comments and off-topic posting. Such posts will be removed.