Former Pro-Chancellor, Ladoke Akintola University, Ogbomosho and chairman of the Legal Aid Council of Nigeria, Chief Bolaji Ayorinde, shares his experiences with ADEOLA BALOGUN
Do you agree that the legal practice is either a form of activism or social responsibility?
First of all, as a legal practitioner, you are a professional. You have to qualify as a lawyer and then, you either practise as a private legal practitioner or take up employment with an institution or the government. However, by the nature of our training, it is inevitable that we will have to work with a lot of social responsibilities because we are also trained to be of help to people. You may now decide whether you want to be of assistance or not. There is no compulsion, but, by the nature of your training, you can be of assistance.
Were you influenced by your father’s position as a former chief judge to train as a lawyer?
It is natural. I was greatly inspired by him and I am very proud of his legacy. As a little boy, I was surrounded by people like him, lawyers and judges. It was natural for me to be interested in the profession. However, I must say that although I showed interest in the profession at a very young age, he encouraged me. Also, he warned me that becoming a lawyer and living the life of a lawyer would attract many responsibilities. Inevitably, you are seen as a leader in the society. That is why in most advanced countries, top politicians and legislators are lawyers. America is a good example of a country where the President and his wife are lawyers. It is the kind of background that prepares you for leadership. I must say that I was greatly inspired by my father.
Since your father was a judge, one would have expected you to follow his example.
Well, it is not too late for me. High Court judges retire at 65, at least, and I am not near 65 years-old yet. So, if I still choose to serve as a judge, the opportunity is there.
Having been exposed to private legal practice for some time, do you think that you can adapt to a private lifestyle?
As lawyers, we are still largely conservative. Yes, of course judges are expected to be much more conservative but we have seen lawyers who crossed to the other side and have been able to adapt very well. It is something that is possible. But it is not my priority. I still enjoy legal practice and my association with people of like minds. I enjoy getting involved in the discussions about the future of this country. I enjoy getting involved in aspects that promote the well being of people generally. I have a passion and I delight in pursuing things that will help to uplift the masses.
How easy was it to set up a legal chamber considering your background as the son of a legal officer?
Remember that my father was a civil servant initially before he became a judge. So, there was no big money somewhere to set up a massive law firm. But what we had in abundance was the good name and opportunity of having a deep knowledge of how and what a lawyer should be. In the beginning, it was a struggle. My first office was what is called a one-man office. The entire office, including my room and my secretary’s office, was not as big as the room we are sitting now. It was a gradual process, but we developed over time. What is important is commitment to the practice.
How would you describe the process of selecting senior advocates during your time and what obtains now, as well as the calls in some quarters for the abolition of the SAN title?
First of all, I don’t believe in the abolition theory because in any profession, there must be a means of rewarding commitment and excellence. You have it in different forms in all the professions. In the military, we have ranks; in other ones, we have all manners of distinctions. With regard to how the selection used to be when I was elevated to the position of SAN, compared to what obtains now, change is always inevitable and different times call for different approaches. At that time, yes, it was difficult scaling through the process. Although the selection process is still difficult, what is important is that we keep on fine-tuning it. The basic principle is to elevate legal professionals that are committed and who have done very well in the legal practice and the parameters are set. Those parameters are not cast in iron; they undergo reforms. For example, there is new emphasis on pro bono (free and for public interest) work which gladdens my heart personally in view of the work I do for the Legal Aid Council. So, for you to aspire to be a recognised leader in the legal profession now, you must have done sufficient pro bono work. Even when we have a lot of lawyers taking up pro bono works, we have some of them who come to the Legal Aid Council to take up pro bono work. There is a lot of difference between what we had before and what we have now. But it is all about fine-tuning and trying to make sure that the system produces the best candidates all the time.
Before you became the head of the Legal Aid Council, were you involved in pro bono work?
I would tell you that in my entire legal career, the case that has given me the greatest pleasure to handle has been a matter pro bono in which a gentleman who was an architect was involved in an accident. He was an employee of the defunct NITEL and he came out badly from the accident. He was introduced to us and we took up his matter and after many years, he was able to get the compensation that he deserved. That has been a great pleasure to me as a lawyer. Even before the Legal Aid Council, I had done pro bono works and I have also headed a committee on decongestion of prisons in Oyo State. So, it’s always been my passion to work or give aid to people.
Is it correct to describe you as an activist then?
It depends on what you mean by ‘activist’. Yes, if in a sense of advocating the rights of people who have no means within the limit of the law, then you can count me in.
As a privileged child attending Ivy League Schools, were you always conscious that you belonged to a different class?
It may be misleading to actually determine how one was brought up by looking at the schools that one attended because I had a father who was very strict. For many years, my father was a prosecutor and later, he retired as a chief judge. So, there was a no-nonsense atmosphere around him. He was quite fair and very firm. But he made sure that we got the best education, which, in those days, was not necessarily the most expensive. It is now that you hear of the kind of school fees that are paid in primary schools and you are aghast. I attended International School, Ibadan and thereafter the famous Government College. But how much was the fee then, compared to what obtains in most private schools now? It is now that education has suddenly become something that people pay millions to get which is a shame really. When I was in Government College, we had children of top civil servants and children of ordinary Nigerians and they all interacted freely. GCI was a leveller. You left whatever background you had at the gate when you came in and you were all treated equally. As for university education, my ambition was to go to the University of Ife or University of Lagos, but I think my father thought I was a little bit rascally and he wanted to take me out of circulation. He went to dump me in one village in England where I had to cope with an extremely cold weather. So, it wasn’t a case of being pampered. Everything that my parents did was practical.
At a time, your name was coming up prominently as someone whose body language suggested politics, especially when you were the Pro-Chancellor of the Ladoke Akintola University. Did you attempt to test the waters in politics?
I was appointed the pro-chancellor of the university, although it was a political appointment, truly, it was an appointment that was based on the qualification of the person being appointed. Perhaps because one was always involved in all manners of discussions with respect to the political terrain if that is what you mean by body language. You cannot shy away from what is happening around you. It is very important that you participate in it or focus on what leadership should be in this country. We must move away from seeking political office for the sake of it or trying to acquire wealth in politics. We must make people to understand that they don’t have to seek political office before they become political activists. If doing this is what is assessed and called body language, I accept. But it is quite separate from my law practice. When I talk of politics, it is politics of development, nothing more.
As someone who studied in England, aren’t you disturbed that anytime a state governor is elected in Nigeria, he becomes very interested in the day-to-day running of universities in his domain and most of the time, turns them into his own property?
I think we have to make the university as autonomous as possible. For example, the University of London was established by students. They were Jewish students, they came together to develop themselves, acquire knowledge. They shopped around to look for people to come and teach them. That was the background of the university. Most of the universities there were not established by the government, but by groups and organisations and individuals. But, in Nigeria, most of our universities were established by the government and when you give somebody money, you must control the person. We must make a conscious effort to take those universities out of government control. It is very important. For example, when I was the pro-chancellor and there was much talk about the ownership of the Ladoke Akintola University, I was quite fortunate to work with two excellent vice-chancellors and our chancellor then was the late Pa Kayode Esho. What we did then was to make sure that despite the political crisis surrounding the school, not a single academic day was lost. We left the babbling to the politicians and we made sure that we fortified the university system. While the disagreement between the feuding parties lasted, the school did not shut down for one day. And that is what I think the university authorities should do: protect the institutions. Government should also remove its negative influences around our campuses.
Tell us about the origin of the Legal Aid Council.
Many years ago, some like-minded lawyers came together to form the council. They include people like the late Chief Debo Akande, Chief Ikpeazor and Chief Solomon Lar. They came together and began to propagate the idea of a legal aid society and that went on for many years. They encouraged lawyers to provide free services to indigent people. By 1976, during the Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo military regime, it was formalised and a council was established. In 2011, the Act was amended and it gave the council more powers and a wider jurisdiction to deal with the provision of legal services. Now, the awareness about the council is increasing tremendously and people have started to ask questions about it. The present council, which I head, is very determined to raise the discussion and the work of the council and put it in the front burner of public discourse in Nigeria. Just two weeks ago, we had a conference in Abuja, which was well attended, and speakers came from all over, even from the United Kingdom, to discus the way forward. The major drawback has been the funding of the council. But we are coming up with the attorney-general, who is very passionate about the council and that is why he carefully chose the members of the board. With the political will of the government, soon, Nigerians will see the work of the Legal Aid Council. We are spread all over the states and in most of the local government councils. We are coming up with programmes that will allow private lawyers to also be involved in our work. We are coming up with a programme that will encourage even the very top private firms in Nigeria to become Legal Aid Council partners. I am sure that in the next few months, Nigerians will begin to see the dividends coming from this area. Mind you, we are now moving the council from being a charity to fundamental rights organisation. The moment you come across the justice delivery system, you must have adequate legal representation. And if not, you are at a disadvantage and the law would not allow that.
But do we have lawyers who are willing to get involved considering the fact that no monetary benefit is coming in for them?
First of all, the funding is an issue because we must engage lawyers from the private bar and give out cases to them and they must be paid. It is fundamental. Again, we are also going to have a very robust pro bono scheme which will include peer review of all the work being done by the law firms. Funding is very fundamental and pro bono work will also be a supplement.
A man went on a hunger strike because of his unpaid entitlement. I would think that the Legal Aid Council would be interested in his case
Once he qualifies under the enabling law, we would move in immediately.
Don’t you think there is enough work for your council at the prisons where there are many awaiting trial cases?
The problem of the prison is multi-faceted. But then, the prison reform bill is about to be passed into law. Also, the Senate has requested that prison decongestion be given to the council to handle directly because majority of the inmates are awaiting trial suspects. So, we need a robust system to deal with prison decongestion and the council is working with other stakeholders to produce a workable modality.
Did you ever think of getting married to a fellow lawyer?
I never thought in that direction. I know of many couples that are lawyers and having a very good time. But I was also quite fortunate and blessed to get married to somebody who, although not a lawyer, has by virtue of her birth and marriage to me, become knowledgeable in law. She is a medical doctor, but her father is a retired justice of the Supreme Court. So, growing up in such an environment and getting married to me, she had no choice other than to become a lawyer by association. She is surrounded by lawyers.
Did you force your children to study law?
I have tried very well not to put it in their mind, but they decided on their own that this is the way they want to follow and one cannot but encourage them.
Do you see yourself getting involved in politics and running for an elective position?
Are we not all politicians? The issue should never be about oneself but the general aspirations of our people. What do our people want; what kind of leadership do we want to throw up all the time? Do we want a leadership that is totally committed to human development or bring up some people to just win an election? For me, it is not whether I consider myself suitable for an elective office, no. I think I will always be very willing to participate in all what will be good for our masses and human development. It is not all about me running for an office; it is about us coming together, having like minds and putting in our best to have a better society.