“Hitherto untold story of unbelievable stuffs that happened in Nigerian courts”
To an average litigant or court spectator, the brickbats exchanged between a judge and a lawyer look fascinating. Some litigants think that a particular judge must have received bribes from the other party if the judge is highly critical of the litigant’s counsel. It could, however, be due to the fact that the lawyer was unprepared.
But sometimes, and unfortunately, some judges exhibit undue bellicosity towards a counsel not because the counsel had not prepared for his case or that he was not courteous enough to the judge, but because of some extraneous, personal matters that have nothing to do with the case.
There was a particular case where a judge had to adjourn a case to enable him adjust psychologically because he could not cope with the alluring beauty of a female counsel appearing before him. The judge continuously stared at the female lawyer, not actually following the submissions of the counsel. Unable to withstand the situation any longer, the judge rose for the day to enable him psyche himself up and concentrate on the case at the next adjourned date.
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Chief Afe Babalola, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), had a similar experience several years ago in the 70s while appearing before a judge whom, unknown to him, was nursing a personal grudge against him.
Chief Babalola was leading his client in evidence before the judge abruptly directed him to round up his examination-in-chief within 10 minutes, even though he needed at least one more hour to do so. At the end of 10 minutes, the judge suddenly adjourned the matter and awarded 100 pounds as costs against Chief Afe Babalola’s client.
Ordinarily, such an award of costs was absolutely unnecessary since the adjournment was not at the instance of the lawyer. Piqued at this unfair award of costs, Chief Babalola decided to personally pay the cost without informing his client of the decision. And Chief Babalola thereafter refused to appear before the judge for the next two years, giving the case file to another lawyer to handle.
Eventually, the judge was elevated to the then Western State Court of Appeal. As a busy lawyer who frequently appeared before the Court of Appeal, Chief Babalola had no choice than to appear before the panel of justices the judge was part of.
One day, Chief Babalola appeared before the Court of Appeal and this adversarial judge was a member of the three-member panel of justices. And predictably, the judge served as a stumbling block to Chief Babalola. Each time the lawyer attempted to speak, the judge would interrupt. Each time he tried to make another point, the judge would interrupt him. This went on consistently and Chief Babalola could not make any constructive sentence, which affected his submissions.
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Peeved at the judge’s behaviour, Chief Babalola stopped talking and told the justices: “My lords, I regret that I cannot go on with this case anymore… My lord, I have appeared before this court several times and you have always commended me for my industry and good work. But today, your new learned brother has made it impossible for me to present my case. Each time I started my submission, he would obstruct me. Each time, he was wrong and I was right. I do not think I want to go on with the case anymore”.
Realising the implication, the presiding justice quickly conferred with the “opposition judge” and the other senior justice and asked Chief Babalola to continue his case, which he eventually won.
After the case, Chief Babalola went to the presiding justice to intimate him on the reason the judge was hostile to him. As Chief Babalola later explained, himself and the judge were chasing the same girl at the High Court Registry. The girl did not only turn down the judge’s amorous overtures, she also insulted him. And the judge decided to have his pound of flesh by dealing with Chief Babalola any time he appeared before him.
Platforms Africa
