SATURDAY BREAKFAST with TONY OKOROJI
Because of recent events, there is renewed debate whether justice can be obtained in Nigerian courts. I have read about cases where the judgment has been written even before the case is filed. I have read so much about “selective justice”. For someone like me, whose every activity is based on the belief in justice and the rule of law, it makes my head spin.
In the dying year, I have been to several parts of the country where people have congratulated me on the multiple victories that Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON) which I lead, has won in various courts in the country. While I have been commended by some people, I know that some have sneered at me because they believe that something must have gone under the table to bring about those victories. Sadly, many have lost hope that justice can be obtained in Nigeria.
Please, I am not a quarrelsome person. I do not go to court for the fun of it. I believe that a nation without justice is not a nation worth its name. When we get a major court decision against a big bank, it is my hope that it sends a message that as big as they are, no bank is above the law. When we get a major court decision against a big government law enforcement agency, my hope is that it is understood that the agencies have been set up to protect us and not to hound and intimidate us. When we get a major decision against a radio station using the intellectual property of young Nigerians to make money for the owner without any compensation for the young artistes, that is part of the war against corruption. Copyright infringement to me, is corruption. When I win a major defamation suit, I hope that it is understood that while I am a great believer in freedom of speech, freedom of speech is not the same thing as the freedom to maliciously spread falsehood against anyone and destroy the person’s character.
I have been to courts across the nation many-many times not over any private land dispute or any matrimonial cause. Indeed, I have been to court more times than many active litigation lawyers and witnessed against top corporations, governments and individuals, time and time again. I have done this because I believe that in building the nation of our dreams, we must have precedents that define the ‘do’s and ‘don’ts in our land.
I am not a particularly rich man so I don’t know where I would have found the money to pay for the many cases I have won in the courts, if justice in every case is for sale. I have never had to give money to anyone to get a favorable judgment. In fact, no one in any court has asked me for one naira. Is it because they know that I do not have or because they know that I will not give? Having stated my case, does it mean that there is no corruption in our courts? The courts are staffed with Nigerians. It therefore follows that if there is widespread corruption in the country, the courts cannot be isolated. What may be wrong is to believe that every judge is corrupt. That certainly is not my experience and few Nigerians have experienced the courts than I have. That is also not to say that I have not read court decisions that to me, have neither rhyme nor reason.
I have written here before that in the building of the copyright system in Nigeria, I have carried placards many times and led very risky demonstrations many-many times. On several occasions, I could easily have been shot by an “unknown gunman”.
I have gone many-many days without sleep, travelled lonely roads at dangerous hours, written many opinion articles, delivered hundreds of lectures, organized myriad conferences, seminars and workshops, written a striking book on a subject dear to my heart because I believe that a significant contributor to the future of our nation will not be our oil and gas. It will also not be buried in the soil. It will be the product of the minds of talented and brilliant young Nigerians.
In the marathon search for justice, we avert wars. You may ask, how do wars begin? Wars begin when people have lost hope. First is the war of words which incubates the hate and mistrust and fires up the young, unemployed and restless. Just turn on your WhatsApp platform and try to follow the endless conspiracy theories and ‘discoveries’ of the plans of one tribe or group to annihilate your tribe, group or religion. How do you know what is true? How many of our young and restless have the maturity to pause and ask questions?
Then there is the frustration that comes with the feeling that there is no way that you can obtain justice. When the prevailing conclusion is that the levers of justice have been hijacked and that you have become a mere spectator in a game in which you should be a player, and the referee is a member of the opposing team and whatever you are given you must take without complaint and if you are not given anything at all, so be it.
That was the situation I was caught up in when some years ago, I began a one-man demonstration for several days in front of the Federal High Court in Lagos. I raised alarm because I saw the rule of law crumbling in Nigeria and the courts shackled.
For someone who verily believes that the difference between a civilized nation and a banana republic is the respect for the rule of law, I could not understand why a judge after hearing my case, would not be allowed to deliver judgment as he deemed fit.
The English philosopher, Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679), famously argued in his book LEVIATHAN that in the state of nature, life would be “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” For me, without justice, a nation is descending to Hobbes’ state of nature. The indescribable corruption, hopelessness, banditry, rabid kidnapping and killings that envelope our country today are indices of that descent.
In this Saturday Breakfast, I fervently appeal to our judges to understand that if any group of people can save the Nigerian nation from the descent into hopelessness, that group is the judiciary. May the Almighty give them the wisdom and the will to do what is right.
See you next week.
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