Lawyers should be tested in oral and written English - Olusola Baiyeshea, SAN

Olusola Baiyeshea is an Ilorin-based lawyer who became a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) in 2007. In this interview with Yekini Jimoh, he speaks on various legal issues. Excerpts:

You have just been conferred with the title of the Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), how has the journey been?
The journey has been very challenging with 25 years post-call experience. Although some have up to 30 years, God has helped me, as human rights activism has been a larger part of my activities and most of the cases I have done have been on humanitarian grounds. My kind of clients have no money to pay at all, God has helped me a lot and this award has been a kind of reward from God, even some of my friends say I have a ministry of assistance and help.

Do you think the conferment of the award of SAN on any lawyer is the peak of learning?
It will be the greatest mistake for anybody to say that as a SAN you are believed to know all. The position of a SAN is an appointment for greater responsibility and humility.One is seen to have reached a new position of learning. One has to be good to be a SAN and you don’t have to be a SAN before you can be good. You should not look down on other people.

Do you intend to groom people who will take over from you in human rights activism?
This situation is a common thing of concern to all of us, even at this contemporary period.Look at the late Dr. Bala Usman, former governor of Kaduna State, Alhaji Balarabe Musa and Chief Gani Fawehinmi, these are people who have contributed to the development of humanity but today there are no enough people to take over from them, based on the fact that the level of corruption, hunger and joblessness is very alarming in our society today it is becoming very difficult for the number of people who are into human rights activism to grow up in this country. Even those who preach religion seem to go contrary to what they preach to the people. But at this point in time people should always have the belief that God is there for them and Nigeria will not continue to be bad till eternity. They should stand on their feet and not look at how politicians are making money, they should wait for what God will do for them.

Would you say the taking over of Bakassi is necessary for the Nigerian government at this point in time?
I sympathize with the National Assembly on this issue of ceding Bakassi peninsula to the Republic of Cameroon.I believe in taking it over, our integrity and honour is at stake, so we should stick to our commitment rather than coming out of it.By sticking to it, our international image will be further enhanced. We should allow ourselves to be trusted and be reliable, to discourage international conspiracy against us. If we had made a mistake, too bad and we have made it in such a way that we cannot walk out of the judgment of the International Court of Justice.

Would you say the increase in the number of Law schools in the country has any effect on the quality of lawyers being produced in the country?
The increase in the number of law schools in the country does not increase the quality of lawyers produced. In my time, 1981 –1982, we were just 700 in number, but now the number has gone up. But the decentralization has its merits and demerits and by and large the merit of the decentralization is good and up till now lawyers have a high integrity.

Are you encouraged by the way and manner some lawyers express themselves in court, with submissions full of grammatical errors?
Well, the tool of the lawyer is English language; as we are practicing the common law which is an English language law, our training is based on English Law. In fact if your law is not so good and the English is good, you can persuade and plead with the court in a very good language and you may yet get a lesser punishment for your client.

So I agree with you that the language of the lawyer should be impeccable. There are many lawyers embarrassing us, when you hear their language you will wonder how they got to and even passed through the Law school.

What’s your view on the proposal that people should have a first degree in another field before studying law?
I don’t think such should be pegged down but people should be tested in both oral and spoken English to determine those who can be better qualified for the course. We should adopt a curriculum for both written and oral English.Whoever cannot pass that class should be allowed to go for another course of study instead of law.

Does quackery threaten law as a profession?
Yes, there are quacks in the legal profession and I don’t know how such people will go a long way before they can be detected. In our area, we have a way of monitoring ourselves as well as our behaviour in court; to enable us detect quacks in this profession.

Does immunity clause in our constitution prevent the chief executive who loots the treasury from prosecution?
The essence of the immunity clause is temporary protection for the chief executive,and such was copied from the Western world where there is a high level of transparency and accountability. Since we have it and for governors who are corrupt when their immunity expires, they should be made to face the music in deed and in concrete terms and not in a cosmetic way. In China, whoever wants to be involved in corruption must think twice because when found guilty, he or she will be executed.

Which of the AGF and EFCC has the power to prosecute cases?
Actually the balance between the two offices is constitutional in that the EFCC man is right as the section that set it up stated it and the AGF is equally right as his own is in the constitution. But the issue is not that of flexing muscles, but that of bringing those who erred to book. We believe both the EFCC and the AGF should not go on ego trip but they should do what is right to rid our society of corruption and corrupt officers.

Is it necessary to merge all the anti- corruption agencies in the country, vis a vis the EFCC and the ICPC?
The problem of Nigerians is gross inefficiency. The federal government of Nigeria has so many cases that it has not been able to prosecute and the two anti-corruption agencies in the country, the EFCC and ICPC have different areas of work. In every part of the world there are special agencies to fight corruption. In any case, the government should get serious and not be seen frustrating its own agencies. Nigerians are not interested in any case, what they need is the result.

As a successful lawyer, do you belong to any cult?
By the grace of God I don’t belong to any.When I was about reading law, my people asked me such questions but for me, I only depend on God. People should always be patient and wait for God, there is no need for anyone to join cults to do well in court.

Were you guided into choosing and studying law?
Yes, I will say I was guided by an uncle in 1977.He was in America while I was filling the form for School of Basic Studies for Kwara State College of Technology. After choosing to study History and Philosophy, he sent a letter to me, advising me to study law which I did.

But in my own case today, I don’t want to force any of my children to study law. Although at the end of the day it is the prayer of any lawyer to see that he has a child who will inherit all his legacies.

Have you ever had any experience of molestation by security agencies in the course of carrying out your duty?
Well, not really. During the period of Generals Babangida and Abacha we wrote a lot of things on the government and we knew for quite sometime we were under surveillance, but I know that I have been persecuted by being denied the opportunity to take what is meant for me and I think that is all I have as an experience.