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For the regular visitors on NigeriaVillageSquare, Mr. Paul Adujie does not need an introduction. His faithfulness to, and advocacy on behalf of, the Obasanjo administration, based on his numerous writings, do not require introductions.
If diligence, which is a close cousin of tenacity, doggedness, resilience, perseverance, persistence, and tirelessness, is the barometer with which to gauge a lawyer’s performance of his duty to his client, then the Obasanjo Administration, as Paul Adujie’s client, is in good hands.
I have never met with, spoken to, seen, or otherwise communicated with, Mr. Adujie, with the exception of a total of exactly two comments I posted in response to other people’s published articles. I don’t think I have ever responded directly to any of his own articles on NigeriaVillageSquare primarily because I am more interested in storytelling, mischievousness, caricatures, and understanding the wayo mentality, than in real politics.
Mr. Adujie, as everyone here knows, does not waver in his defense of Nigeria, which he sometimes considers synonymous with the Obasanjo administration. In fact, I was once on the receiving end of his missile when I wrote a Rejoinder to CNN’s report on Nigerians in Houston in which I called on Nigerians to self-examine themselves before criticizing CNN. Mr. Adujie, in his next article, took a swipe at me and wondered why any person should take advice (chastisement, he called it) from a person with a name like “WayoGuy”. But that was fine with me.
It was on another website that I first encountered Mr. Adujie’s provocative scorched-earth writing called “America Will Disintegrate…” a response he wrote to an American’s prediction that Nigeria would disintegrate. After reading that piece, and in admiration of his fearlessness, I wrote a comment to the article stating “Adujie, my learned brother, I salute you”. Out of curiosity I then searched his name and found more of his writings on NigeriaVillageSquare. I have, since then, been fascinated by the persona of Mr. Adujie as projected on NigeriaVillageSquare in his exchanges with his supporters and critics. I am not as much interested in the substance of the exchanges (since I have no interest in politics or government service) as I am in the energetic tirelessness with which he maintains his support of the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo. But I see him from the vantage point of a legal advocate.
I see Mr. Adujie with the eyes of a legal brother. By this I mean that while some of his detractors see him as an unrepentant sycophant, I see him as an excellent representative of a true legal advocate and nothing more. Because lawyers think differently and consider their professionally mandated advocacy just a job as opposed to a personal quest, he, I presume, most likely does not feel anger or bitter against his opponents. Based on what I have read from his opponents who are not lawyers, they are at a disadvantage because they lack the requisite professional mindset to insulate themselves from the painful sting of his missiles.
I am convinced that it is because Mr. Adujie internalizes his stage appearance as no more than legal advocacy, as mandated by the canons of his profession, that he has been so successful in mentally and emotionally disregarding all the vitriolic venoms that his opponents rain on his head. I envy him sometimes because it is not an easy mental state to develop, even for lawyers, and the lack of such mental state has caused untold number of lawyers to suffer heart attacks, strokes, high blood pressure and similar maladies.
The American Bar Association’s (ABA) Model Rules of Professional Conduct, Rule 1.3 titled Diligence, requires that:
A lawyer shall act with reasonable diligence and promptness in representing a client.
The ABA commentary, which offers an explanation of what diligence means in this context, is as follows:
A lawyer should pursue a matter on behalf of a client despite opposition, obstruction or personal inconvenience to the lawyer, and take whatever lawful and ethical measures are required to vindicate a client's cause or endeavor. A lawyer must also act with commitment and dedication to the interests of the client and with zeal in advocacy upon the client's behalf.
Further, the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct (Rule 1.2 (b)) states that:
A lawyer's representation of a client, including representation by appointment, does not constitute an endorsement of the client's political, economic, social or moral views or activities.
If, after reading the above excerpts from the American Bar Association, you still don’t understand why, on the matter of diligence, and diligence alone, I admire Mr. Adujie, then you are indeed a better person than me and I respect you.
If the present Nigerian government has not already covertly retained Mr. Adujie and paid him to continue doing what he does in cyberspace and elsewhere, then I would encourage the government not only to retain him but also to pay him for the excellent unwavering diligence with which he has acted as an advocate for the government and its policies.
If I need a lawyer, and the criterion for picking a competent lawyer remains diligence, and based on what I have seen on NigeriaVillageSquare, I will choose Mr. Adujie.
And so I salute my learned brother Paul Adujie, Esquire.
WayoGuy@aol.com
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Posted by Robot| 23.02.2007 17:46