From my personal experiences, the answer is in the negative. And very unfortunately, the reason is our very poor standard of legal practice in Nigeria. Suffice it to say that legal practice in Nigeria is so low that it is not sensitive to the ideals of the Constitution, including the whole idea of entrenchment of fundamental rights.
It is so low as to be able to develop responsible leadership or build a character, or still enforce accountability needed for a responsible society of the vision of the Nigerian Constitution.
For example, it is erroneous to think that the enforcement of fundamental rights is primarily a matter for the Court. Ordinarily, enforcement begins with the citizen who should be self-assertive of the rights, such as makes it imperative for the authorities to respect them in the first instance. That is what institutional safeguards are all about.
But because of the poor standard of legal practice with the concomitant judicial process, the rights have been reduced to mere privileges. This is the experience I have had from the several personal cases I have had on the subject for over three and a half decades since 1990.
Self-enforcement Of The Rights: On self-enforcement by way of self-assertion that induces respect and accountability, I had, prior to now, treated letters or telephone calls from Police including the IG’s office, by merely replying thus, *While as a citizen, I am obligated to assist you in your investigation, I am however, unable to honour your invitation unless you specify the crime you are investigating and my connection to it*. And often times, the matter ends there, implying that beneath the invitation must be something untoward. In other words, they had no reason for inviting me save to deal improperly, such as extort money from me using the power of the State or of the Police.
Cooperating, therefore, is a way of encouraging and promoting a corrupt practice and abuse of power.
Lawyers’ Abuse Of Power Through Improper Use Of Police: In one particular case, a client referred a letter of invitation from the office of the Commissioner of Police Lagos State to me. The subject matter was a landlord/tenant matter in which the land was alleging non-payment of rent. I had written to the landlord’s Solicitor requesting for a meeting for us to reconcile the books.
But he chose to go to the Police who falsely framed criminal charges. I wrote to the office of the Commissioner of Police to say I had advised the client not to honour the invitation since there was no issue of a crime involved. When the lawyer got to the office of the Commissioner of Police, the officer, a DSP, he was using, reportedly told him that “A lawyer has written, trying to escalate the matter”.
As such, the lawyer who then got stranded called me up right at the office of the Commissioner and asked, after telling me he was stranded, What do we do? And I told him he was yet to reply to my letter. He then came to my office where we reconciled the books but could not agree on all the points. We then agreed to take the matter to the mediation session of the Ministry of Justice of Lagos State. And we agreed to be bound by the decision of the mediation.
Thus, I believe that the hallmark of a lawyer is doing right and insisting on it; the due process. It is the ability to insist on the due process that will make the lawyer to advise clients, including government and government agencies, properly to the building of a society where everybody observes rules and no one feels he is above the law as we witnessed in the Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan/Akpabio sexual harassment saga where Olisa Agbakoba SAN of all people started speaking in unknown tongues.
I learnt from a very reliable source during that period that legal practice has since gone to a new level called ‘Media advocacy’, wherein lawyers are paid to launder the image of public office holders accused of misdeeds. To such lawyers, money in the name of ‘professional fees’ is more important than the nation Nigeria.
But thank God, we are all seeing the results of our actions and inactions on our country. Succinctly, the woes befalling us today as a country are a combination of the totality of our actions and inactions; all of us including lawyers and Judges.
It is against the foregoing that I am looking at the fate of fundamental rights in Nigeria. Do they truly exist in a Country where there is no respect for the due process of law? Food for thought.
Johnson Odion Esezoobo, lawyer & Rights activist. He can be reached via +234 803 320 0595
