*Clarifies Series of Events Leading to the Rage of the Apex Court’s Justices.
*Says Comment Will Serve As Morale Booster.
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A Lawyer, A.A. Oladunmiye has reacted to part of a published law report where he was reprimanded and berated by the Supreme Court for what it called “disgusting compartment”.
Referring to Oladunmiye, Nweze, JSC in the case of Obaro v. State [2022] 3 NWLR (Pt. 1886) 105 @ 120. said; “My Lords, before I round off this judgement, permit me to make an observation about the attitude and disposition of A. A.Oladunmiye, Chief Legal Officer, Ministry of Justice, Ondo State, counsel for the respondent. His disgusting comportment in court at the hearing of this appeal was thoroughly scandalous to say the least.
Oladunmiye, Esq., who announced himself as a Chief Legal Officer in the Ondo State Ministry of Justice, betrayed the trust of Ondo State which relied on his touted knowledge, expertise and experience to represent the interest of the tax payers of the state in this appeal. He half-heartedly, approached his assignment; worse still, his cavalier proclivity for fripperies was most shocking.
Indeed, it was as if he didn’t know the weight of the issues at stake. I pity the Attorney General of Ondo State if that is the sort of legal services he gets from a “whole” Chief Legal Officer. I even wonder how he was promoted to the rank of Chief Legal Officer in the Ministry of Justice.”
In his account, Oladunmiye who is the Chief Legal Officer at the Ondo State Ministry of Justice exonerated himself of any wrongdoing stating that on the day of hearing, one of the Justices inquired into why their brief was not more than 7 pages and without detail, and he humbly informed the Court that the issues addressed by the Appellant were quite narrow and was directly addressed by their respondent brief.
He further said that, the Justices also raised eyebrows on the absence of a list of authorities on the Brief, a situation he blamed on the Court losing their Respondent brief and having to use the Appellant’s copy which already had the list of authorities pulled out.
He stated that all attempts to explain to the Court were rebuffed as the Justices descended on him.
His reaction reads; “What transpired at court exactly was that one of the Justices observed that our brief was not more than 7 pages in all and asked why we didn’t respond in more details, I most humbly informed the court that the issue addressed by the Appellant in his brief of about 7 or 8 pages was a narrow one which has been addressed by our respondent brief.
It was also observed by them that there was no list of authority attached with our respondent brief whereas the registry of the court lost our brief and it was the Appellant counsel who obliged them with a photocopy unknown to him that the list of authority has been removed.
I made an attempt to inform the court of this fact but I was seriously descended upon. I was not given an opportunity to defend the point.
This is not my first time at the apex court appearing alone, in fact, by the grace of God, I have up to 5 or more cases at my credit. I’m not in anyway disturbed by this comment as my modest track record will continue to speak. It behoves on the people who knows my capacity to judge whether they are right or wrong. This is just one unfortunate incident which I believe posterity will vindicate me of.
All my life, I consider every negative comment including this as a morale booster. God, the Judge of all is still on the throne!”
This encounter has equally elicited reactions from legal practitioners with many describing the remarks of the Court as too harsh and unwarranted.
One of the lawyers, Sylvester Udemezue noted that there are better and more honourable ways to rebuke a Learned Counsel. He further queried the fact that no specific wrong or misconduct was cited by the Court.
In his words; “With the greatest respect to His Lordship of the apex court, this comment appears too harsh for the occasion. There are better and more temperate ways to have rebuked or chastised a counsel. Worse still, this heavy deprecation of the Counsel appears to have come with NO details at all of the particulars of the “offences” or other “professional misconducts” of the affected counsel, to warrant such vituperative onslaught against learned counsel. Anyway, I can recall the words of H.L. Menchen (1880-1956): “a judge is a law student who marks his own exam papers”. And of Giulio Andreotti who once observed that “… law is equal for everyone except for the judges”. I give up.”
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