Last week I wrote in defence of the holders of the LLB Degrees in Sharia and Common Laws with the view to correct some certain misconceptions that have existed for sometime. I was highly impressed by the level of reactions to the said post.
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While many people both lawyers and non-lawyers appreciated and commended the issue as discussed, there were just very few divergent views. A fellow was of the view that the issue as discussed did not require any defence and that I should stop wasting my time. In his actual words: “The need no defence my friend, stop westing your time”. I believe what the fellow actually wanted to say was that: “This needs no defence my friend, stop wasting your time.” One of the questions I immediately asked him was that: “Do you consider the issue discussed as a waste of time?”. Unfortunately the fellow did not respond to any of my questions even after I referred him to the remarks made by some other commentors to enable him respond but he did. I then said:
“I thank everyone for their comments so far.But I must express surprise and disappointment on the comment of our friend Mr…who said the defence put forward here is a waste of time. I consider that comment ARROGANT.I have asked how waste of time is this discussion. But he has kept quite .Is there anything wrong trying to correct a misconception? If people express their views, those who do not have anything reasonable to add should look the other way.I don’t insult people and I don’t take it lightly with those who try to insult me. In anything I do, I abide by the principle taught by the Prophet of Islam that ‘he who believes in Allah and the last day should speak the truth or keep silent’”
It is this kind of attitudes among the Muslim elites that do not believe in a proper way of correcting misconceptions about Islam and Sharia that has continued to lead to the wrong perception of Islam and what it stands for in this part of the world. I am a believer in the concept that if anyting wrong is said about Islam, the best option for the Muslim intellectuals is to take up their pens to strongly rebut such wrong perception as pen is mightier than the sword.
For further clarification on this issue of discussion, the misconception I have tried to correct is that those law students that graduated from Universities in Nigeria with the LLB Degree in Law are in no way superior to those law students that graduated from other Nigerian Universities where the law courses are combined with the Islamic law courses who are at the end of the day will be conferred with the LLB Degrees in Common and Sharia Laws. For all the students to qualify as legal practitioners in Nigeria, they will all have to mandatorily attend the Law School for a year to sit for the same law courses approved by the Council of Legal Education which they must pass before they are called to the Nigerian Bar. It is equally mandatory for those students that study law overseas but want to be admitted to the Nigerian Bar to spend two years in the Nigerian Law School where the first year will be devoted to teach them the Nigerian law courses that are not taught in the overseas, while the second year will be for the bar final prior to being called to the Bar. A lawyer that is called to the Nigerian Bar as a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria has the right to practice at the Bar or on the Bench and as such he can aspire to reach the peak of his chosen carrier.
In my previous analysis on this issue,I did specifically use Usmanu Dan University, Sokoto as one of the Universities where Sharia and Common Law courses are combined together to lead to the award of a combined degrees in laws. This is so because that was the university I attended and it was immpossible for me to know all the courses that are being taken in all the universities. Some law courses available in one university may not be available in the other University. Professor Nasir Yauri (a.k.a. Abu Abdurahman) in his reaction to the issue at stake actually got me right when commented as follow:
“There is no doubt that the combined honors will give someone a better understanding of law. First, the person has fulfilled all the requirements for the award of the degree in law (common). The advantage is that he has some knowledge and competence in another variant of law. This will certainly strengthen the lawyer, especially when he goes to practice. That’s why graduates from UDUS perform excellently at the Nigerian law school. In addition to that, there are many of them who have excelled in the legal practice. Combined honors is usually more rigorous than single honors. Historically, and in the core advanced countries, combined honors are attached more premium than single honors. I think this matter is a mere reflection of Nigeria’s prolonged religious, ethnic, and regional crisis.”
Our great Professor of Economic Management at Usmanu Dan Fodiyo University, Sokoto actually got the point we are trying to make right which is that the holders of the LLB Degrees in Sharia and Common Law are not in anyway inferior the holders of LLB Degree in Law.Today there are many holders of these degrees who are doing well in their area of chosen carieers whether at the Bar or on the Bench as well as in the academia and even in other area of human endeavours. I was elated by the remarks made by Dr. Ahmad Rufai Saheed, an Associate Professor of Islamic Studies also at Usmanu Dan University, Sokoto that :
“This piece is impressive and the author deserves plaudits for the rigour involved in his analysis. I appreciate his painstaking submission. However, I like to quickly comment on two of about eight issues emerging from the analysis and shall try not to be caught in the web of the fallancy of ‘our enemies who are speaking against the Shari’a.The two issues border on one , the claim that ‘late Hon. Justice Muri Okunola…was …a Ph.D holder in Sharia Law ( parag 8) and two ,the Sharia and Common Law Curriculum contents,outlined in parags 6 & 7.”
On issue one, the Associate Professor said:
“As regards late Hon. Justice Muri Okunola, he earned a Ph.D in Law at the Univeristy of Lagos in 1984. His thesis was entitled ‘Interaction between Islamic Law and Customary Laws of Succession among the Yoruba’. I am not aware that UNILAG offers a degree in Sharia Law and this thesis, in research ,obviously is an analytical study focussed on the interplay of two legal models in a particular geographical setting .It requires a background in Law and does not necessarily make one an expert in Shariah…”
While I so much appreciate the intervention and correction of our great Associate Professor,I must confess that when writing the previous article on this issue , I was at a particular stage at crossroad and everyone who has read the said article would observe that I did not specifically include UNILAG among those universities I listed as offering some courses in Islamic Law.The issue of whether Justice Okunola (may Allah continue to bless his soul)’s Ph. D was in Sharia Law or Common Law was once a subject of discussion with some colleagues of mine and it seemed that there was a consensus that his Ph.D was in Sharia Law.Since then I continue to hold that mistaken belief. When Dr. Ahmad Rufai Saheed’s intervention was brought to my attention by another friend and colleague, I immediately copied and sent same to my two other friends and colleagues with whom I earlier had the discussion. I requested for their comments and further evidence. One of these my friends said in response that:
“I don’t have any clear evidence but I have heard people saying this in the presence of the late Justice without any protest.This informed my response. But if the above write up is correct, I will assume that the non- protest against the assertion that the late Justice had Ph. D in Sharia Law was probably allowed not to openly correct the person involved.”
To me I do not see anything wrong in the non- protest on the part of the late Jurist because if someone comes to me and says he holds Ph.D in Law or he is a Professor of Law, it will be irrational on my part to continue bothering him with questions as to whether his Doctorate or Professorship is in Law of Evidence or International Law or Law of Contract or Constitutional Law or which aspect of Laws? Lord Denning of England once said that: “God forbids that a lawyer should know all the laws. But God forbid that a lawyer should not know where to find the law”. I am always of the view that the individual’s claim of being “an expert” is nothing but an exaggeration. Can any individual claim monopoly of knowledge or being ominiscience in any field of knowledge? That attribute only belongs to the Almighty God.It needs to be pointed out here that the acquisition of knowledge is not limited only to what is learnt within the four walls of the University, personal development in terms of reading and researching can equally play a vital role
To answer and analysis those questios put forward by the Associate Professor in relation to “the Sharia and Common Law Curriculum contents, outlined in parags 6 & 7” of the previous article, the space here may not allow me to dwell on this now, but as to the question that : “Is this curriculum good enough to make one a qualified lawyer in the Nigerian context?”. My answer to this is in affirmative because I have highlighted what are required to qualify as a lawyer in the Nigerian context. The intervention and contribution of Professor Yauri above has even made the point very clearer. Many lawyers who passed through this curriculum contents in UDUS are today sitting as Judges of various Upper Area Court, Presidents of Customary Courts, Chief Magistrates of Magistrate/District Courts, Judges of Federal and States’ High Courts, Sharia Courts of Appeal, Customary Courts of Appeal as well as the Justices of the Federal Court of Appeal. I mentioned in the previous article that Arabic Language is one of the courses taken during the program and that the Arabic Class is divided into two groups of A and B in UDUS. All the the students in Arabic Group A then in my 1999 Law Class are those proficient in Arabic and had attended one Arabic Institute or the other before they came to study law. I know not less than three of them who are today Judges of the Sharia Court of Appeal in their various states. We today have lawyers who are products of the Faculty of Law of Usmanu Dan Fodiyo University, Sokoto that have been conferred with the prestigious rank of the Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN). Apart from this, we also have many of them who have become Ph. D holders and Professors in the academia.
I agree with Dr. Ahmad Rufai Saheed that the fact that a student decides to write his thesis on a topic relating to Sharia or Islam “does not necessarily make one an expert in Shariah”. But the fact still remains that even in some universities where Islamic law courses are not being taken for instance UNILAG as in the case of Justice Muri Okunola we earlier referred to, the university will still be faced with the reality of finding a Professor that has a background and not necessarily an expert in the knowledge of Islamic Law to supervise such a student who wants to examine or compare a particular concept under the Common Law and the Islamic Law in his thesis. There is a 1999 Classmate of mine in UDUS who obtained his LLM Degree from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile -Ife. He chosed the topic: “Formation of Marriage under Nigerian Law and Islamic Law: An appraisal” to write his thesis on. It is very obvious that Ife does not take any law courses in Islamic Law, but Professor David Ijalaiye was assigned to him as his supervisor.Today this same friend and colleague in private law practice is now pursuing his Ph.D in our Usmanu Dan Fodiyo University, Sokoto.
Lastly I want to thank everyone who have expressed various views on this issue, the purpose of bring up the issue is not to antagonise anyone but rather meant to correct a misconception and share knowledge and ideas . The essence of knowledge is to be shared with other. God bless you all.
REMARKABLE PRONOUNCEMENT ON ATTRIBUTES OF LEGAL PRACTITIONER
“Now, it is, I think, a fair characterization of a legal practitioner’s responsibilities in the country that he stands as a ‘shield’ in defence of right and to ward off wrong. In a profession charged with such responsibilities, there must be exacted those qualities of truth speaking, of high sense of honour, of the strictest observance of fiduciary responsibility.”
Per MUSDAPHER JSC (as he then was) in Okike Vs L.P.D.C (2005) 15 NWLR (Pt. 949) Pg. 510 Para C.
THE SETTLED PRINCIPLE OF LAW
On effect of the evidence of near relative under Islamic law
“Generally under Islamic law the evidence of a near relative of a party is inadmissible if there is suspicion that the witness derives some benefit from such evidence.”
See Sule Vs. Hamidu (1988) 4 NWLR (Pt. 90) 516 at 522; Hada Vs. Malumfashi (1999) 7 NWLR (Pt. 303) 1 at 17-18; KAKA Vs. NAGWANJA (2001) 9 NWLR (Pt. 717) Pg. 130 Para G
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5th May 2019
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