On April 30, 2015, some eminent Nigerians converged on Rockview Hotel in Abuja for the public presentation of ‘Encyclopedia of Civil Procedures and Practices of Superior Courts.’

The book, by some group of lawyers, was written in honour of the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Ibrahim Auta, whose name appended to the book attracted the high and the mighty within and outside the legal circle to the occasion.

The occasion was not only attended by personalities like that of the Esama of Benin Kingdom, Chief Gabriel Igbinedion; retired judges, an army of Senior Advocates of Nigeria and others, it also attracted handsome donations.

The Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mahmud Mohammed, was represented at the event by another Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Clara Ogunbiyi.

The SANs in attendance comprising Chief Mike Ahamba, a former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Chief Kanu Agabi, Dr. Alex Izinyon, Mr. D. D Dodo and 17 other SANs initially announced a donation of N5,250,000 during the launching of the book.

But Dodo, who announced the donation on behalf of the 21 SANs, later expressed the concerns of Izinyon and some of their colleagues that the N5.25m raised by the SANs was below expectation and they therefore raised it to N7m.

Followed by the SANs’ donations was that of the national leader of the All Progressives Congress and former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, who was represented at the occasion by the Ekiti Central senator in the National Assembly, Babafemi Ojudu.

Ojudu, who left the occasion before it ended, had pledged N2m donation on behalf of Tinubu. The master of ceremony announced the donation made by Tinubu after Ojudu left.

As if prepared to beat every other person to it, Igbinedion, the father of a former Governor of Edo State, Chief Lucky Igbinedion, announced the highest singular donation to the book in the sum of N8m.

Igbinedion, who said Justice Auta was his long-time personal friend, spoke glowingly of the jurist, describing him as a “bold and courageous judge.”

There were other donations by the office of the National Security Adviser represented at the event by Bello Fadile, and various defence institutions.

Fadile, while buying four copies of the book for N1m on behalf of the NSA office, said the NSA office had always supported the Federal High Court, being the only court designated by the Terrorism Act to prosecute terrorism offences.

Other lawyers in their personal capacities also announced various sums of money as their contributions towards the book.

The event was one among many where authors write books in honour of judges and in the process make a lot of money.

In January this year, The Peace Hub, a group of students of the Faculty of Law of the University of Abuja, presented a book in honour of a Justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Bode Rhodes-Vivour.

The book, a compilation of 19 essays on “contemporary legal issues” which were authored by members of the Bar, the bench and the academia, attracted handsome donations from Senior Advocates of Nigeria.

A former President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), who was the chairman of the occasion, praised Rhodes-Vivour for the erudition he had brought to bear on the bench.

Towards the end of last year, two books were presented in honour of the then outgoing Chief Judge of Lagos State, Justice Ayotunde Phillips.

The first book presented in October 2014 was titled, ‘A reformatory approach to the criminal justice system in Nigeria’. The book authored by Oluseyi Adetona and Dare Oketade, focused on the reforms introduced by Justice Philips in tackling some of the challenges in the criminal justice system.

In November of the same year, another book titled ‘Landmark Judgments’ was presented in her honour.

The book, authored by 12 young lawyers, was a compilation of some of the landmark judgments which she delivered in her career on the bench.

At the separate presentation of the two books in Lagos, the who-is-who in the society comprising prominent businessmen, lawyers, traditional rulers and top government officials, graced the occasions and donated handsomely to the books.

Prominent businessman and lawyer, Jimoh Ibrahim, donated N10m to the first book. A former Nigerian Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, who was represented at the event, also bought copies of the book for an undisclosed amount.

Another business mogul, Femi Otedola, who was the chief launcher of the second book, bought copies of the book for N10m. Senior Advocates of Nigeria, top lawyers, senators, government officials and traditional rulers who attended the event were also not left behind as they made donations ranging from N100, 000 to N1m.

Donors were asked to make all payments to the book publisher, Velma Publishing Ltd.

Confidence crisis

Some lawyers have expressed diverse opinion on the propriety of writing books and donations in honour of serving judges.

Some are of the view that judges deserve the honour of books being written in their names and donations made to support such works, but they argue that it is only proper if such is done for retiring or retired judges only.

Some other respondents to our correspondent’s questions also maintain that judges who receive such honours, which attract money donations from lawyers, would be put in a difficult situation when the donors are involved in cases before them.

Some however believe that nothing is wrong with the practice as long as the judges are not the direct beneficiaries of the donations.

The confidence crisis, which some of the lawyers envisaged, played out on the same day that ‘Encyclopedia of Civil Procedures and Practices of Superior Courts in Nigeria’ was publicly presented in honour of Justice Auta.

The event took place on the same day that one of Igbinedion’s sons, Michael, was sentenced to a six-year jail term with an option of N3m fine for N25bn money laundering offences.

Michael is a younger brother of Lucky, also Igbinedion’s son, and a former governor of Edo State for eight years.

The public had expressed concern about the judgment which gave Michael an option of N3m fine but sentenced his co-accused, who used to be an aide to Lucky as governor, Patrick Eboigbodin, to 20 years imprisonment without an option of fine for the same offences.

Justice Liman had, on April 29, 2015, convicted Michael, who is a younger brother to Lucky, and adjourned till April 30 for sentencing.

But the Chief Registrar of the Federal High Court, Mrs. Rose Oghoghorie, said the event, which took place in Abuja, had nothing to do with the court’s decision in faraway Benin.

“There is no correlation at all, between the book launch in honour of the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court with the sentencing of the son of the Edo Monarch,” Oghoghorie told some journalists.

‘NJC should stop it’

A human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), argue that the practice has become problematic and in fact, at variance with provisions of the code of conduct for judicial officers.

He says, “The practice of launching books in honour of judges has become problematic for the judiciary. It is completely at variance with the provisions of the code of conduct for judicial officers.

“The code has prohibited judicial officers from accepting gifts from members of the public. They can only receive gifts from relations and friends.”

To back his view, Falana refers to a pending petition before the National Judicial Council on how a book written in honour of a judge attracted N10m donation from a litigant who has three cases in the judge’s docket.

He calls on the NJC to stop “lousy launching” of books in honour of judges.

Falana said, “The other day a chief judge launched a book. A litigant who had three cases before him donated N10m. A petition is pending before the NJC over the illegal donation.

“A judge who receives millions from a lawyer cannot handle a case involving the lawyer’s client without a likelihood of bias. The NJC should stop the lousy launching of books by judges as it is immoral and illegal.”

‘Such honour should be reserved for retiring and retired judges’

Another Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Dr. Joseph Nwobike, holds the view that nothing is wrong with such donations as long as the judges are not the beneficiaries.

But he warns that it is better that such honours be reserved for judges who are in the twilight of their active service or those already retired.

He says, “There is really nothing wrong because judges who have distinguished themselves and who are at the peak of their career may be honoured by learned authors by way of articles published in books.

“So far as those judges are not direct beneficiaries of the proceeds of the launch or of the publications, I don’t think any aspect or particular section of the code of conduct for judicial officers would have been breached.

“Although, I must confess that it is not something that should be done so carelessly and without due regard to the judicial code of conduct as it is being done in some instances. I seriously recommend that such books should be published in honour of judicial officers who are about to retire or may have retired from active judicial service.”

Nwobike adds that in the event that judges who are still in active service are honoured in that manner, they must be completely detached from the entire process, otherwise it will send a wrong signal to the public.

‘Judges deserve the honour’

A Lagos-based lawyer, Mr. Festus Keyamo, who reiterates that judges deserve the honour of books being written in their names, said that the question that should be asked is if the donors have cases pending before such judges.

Keyamo says, “For lawyers to have relationship with judges, there is nothing wrong with that because many of the judges were their classmates and they cannot pretend not know them.

“The real question we should ask is: that lawyer making the donation, does he have a special case before that particular judge?

“And even if he does not have, is he ready to withdraw from such a case if in the future they do come before that particular judge?

“You cannot stop people from honouring judges. They deserve a lot of honours to encourage them. You cannot also stop people from donating because, don’t forget that, they are not donating to the judges, they are donating to the authors. The money does not go to the pockets of the judges. If the money goes to the pockets of the judges, one can raise eyebrows.”

‘Integrity and impartiality at risk’

Another rights lawyer, Mr. Malachy Ugwummadu, raises ethical concerns about such donations.

He argues that the judicial oath taken by judges entails that they should avoid and assist to avoid “situations that will and can compromise their integrity and impartiality.”

Ugwummadu says, “The hallmark of an upright judge is best measured by the degree of his independence and impartiality in the discharge of his judicial functions. It is these qualities that infuse and sustain the confidence of the public in the activities of the judiciary in the absence of which the public’s sense of justice is circumspect in dealing with the public.

“Short of recommending that judges should live and be sentenced to exclusive life of recluse, it is very important that they should avoid and be assisted to avoid situations that will and can compromise their integrity and impartiality. Such is the nature of the oath they take at appointment and for which reason they are adequately provided for by the state.

“The judge is perceived to be bias and incapable of dispensing justice when he is traced to any special relationship with litigants. Assuming the book launch and the entire donations were strictly for charity purposes, it will be stretching the rules too far to argue that such an exercise cannot be built around a fearless and incorruptible judge particularly when they retire or pass on.”

‘Only retired judges should honoured in that manner’

Another lawyer and rights activist, Mr. Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, also argues that with the likelihood of being influenced by such donations, judges are better honoured in that manner after their retirement.

He says, “Generally, judges are poorly paid in Nigeria. So, whatever is done to honour them is well deserved, having regard to the abysmal neglect they suffer in the hands of the other tiers of government.

“However, such honour is better bestowed in retirement, so that the judges are not unduly influenced by donors. The code of conduct for serving judges does not allow personal benefits from lawyers and litigants that may later appear before such judges, as it may lead to likelihood of bias or conflict of interest, even when such donation was done with the right motive.

“The guiding principle is what a reasonable man would say upon the revelation that a judge handling a particular case has benefited in the past from the largesse of the lawyer or litigant involved, especially if the case is decided in their favour. This should be discouraged.”

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