Chief Judge of Kwara State, Justice Ayinla Bamigbola, travels down memory lane with SUCCESS NWOGU and reveals intimate details of his life
What was your childhood experience?
I was born in Omu Aran, Kwara State. Since I was born, God has been leading me even when I did not know. I grew up in a family in which my father was a farmer and a trader. He was always travelling; from Ibadan, even Lagos. God guided me and led me.
I grew up in a home where education, as we know it today, was relatively not well known. In my family, many of them were very rich businessmen. My father was a leader there. He was able to make it business-wise, but education was not there anyway.
When l look back and see what I have become so far, I know it is the work of God and a disciplined life. I grew up in a family where discipline was the order of the day.
When were you born?
I was born on December 12, 1949. It was a Sunday.
What was your primary and secondary ducation like?
I started my education at the age of about six. It was then that I was taken to the old Western region in Egbado area called Ajilete-Ilaro, now in Ogun State. It is on the way to Idiroko. That was where I started my primary education. I also had my secondary education there. In the LGA Secondary Modern school. I was the senior prefect of that school in 1966. All the teachers who taught me loved me. I do not know why.
Was it because you were intelligent?
Maybe. In matters of education, you cannot put me down. I was always coming first from my primary school up till the modern secondary school where I was the head boy. Anything you gave me to do, I would do it well. Anything, just direct me to go and do this and I would do it well. Maybe that was why they liked me. That has been my mission. Give me something to do and I will make sure I do the things you ask me to do very well and you will end up commending me.
Did you ever have any nickname as a student?
That when I was in that Egbado school where they called us ‘araoke’, meaning people from beyond the river.
During your school days, can you remember any striking experience such as any prank you were involved in that time?
Discipline was uppermost in my family. Even when coming back from primary school, you would be told which farm to go and meet your father. You did not even have time to play football as a child. It was from school to work and even when I was finishing my primary school, I was already a teacher in an evening school in that town, Ajilete
Ilaro.
At the age of 12, I was a teacher in an evening class earning one shilling. It was part of that money that I added to the money that I was given to pay for the Modern Secondary School. The secondary school fee was one pound, 10 shillings. I paid part of it. Because education was not known as such at that time, my father was more interested in taking me to the farm; and we had so many farms in that town. We had cocoa, palm oil, cocoa yam and cassava farms.
I cannot remember any prank. I was a child in my father’s farm and I was a teacher in the evening so I had no time.
How did you enjoy working in the farm?
Oooohhh! I enjoyed it because farming in that place is not the farming we have today. In the farm, you could find something to take, like oranges, guava, banana. You could even cook in the farm. The land there was rich. Even you could fish because there was river nearby. That was why they called that place Ede odo.
It was one event that made me to leave that place even before my father. When I passed the modern school, I was to work; the headmaster there loved me so much. He was the one that introduced me to Saint Andrew’s College Oyo, that I should go and do my Grade Two Teacher’s course; and that after that he was sure that I would pass my GCE and A’levels.
They were looking for a motor bike rider. I was the prefect of that school. They did the interview and immediately after the interview, they took some of those who were in the class with me.
Even though I was the one leading the group, I was not taken. When they took them, my master and other people went to the local government headquarters to know why I was not taken. They said it was because I was not an indigene.
How then did you feel about it?
That was what made me to leave Ajilete Ilaro. The local government is Okiodo. Then I asked my father, ‘what are we doing here?’ That was the first injustice I ever had. That was what was remarkable about my childhood experience. It was one of those things that made me to hate injustice.
My father was a community leader there of both Christians and Muslims. But they said because he was not from there, they could not offer me a job. But in my town, my father was very popular even at that time. When you go and ask of my father in my area, people will tell you that they know him. I told him, ‘see here, people are coming all the way from Omu Aran to see you but here see what happened. They gave people in my class a job and I was denied the job because I am not an indigene.’ I told my father that I was going. Then my father wrote three letters for me to give to three men.
What happened after your secondary school?
After secondary school, I came back to my hometown, Omu Aran. That was in 1968. I started work as a clerk in the judiciary and decided to read because that time education had gained ground even in my family. There were people wanting to improve and fortunately for me, I have an uncle, he is now Chief Samuel Adeniyi, the Asiwaju of Omu Aran. I was handed over to him. He was the one that taught me to be reading privately, seeing the level of my education and intelligence.
He said I could do it; that people do it and succeed.
Infact when I was employed as a clerk, he was the one who was telling me what it takes to be a judge. That was one of the things that were remarkable. And it shows the finger of God in my life. How can you get somebody employed as a clerk and you are telling him what it takes to become a judge? And that has run throughout my work life.
When I was a clerk, I was passing my examinations very well and I was getting my promotions. In my place of work, I was not relenting.
How were you attracted to the legal profession?
When I was in court, I took interest in people and their troubles. I was a court clerk and very shortly I was promoted to a registrar. I read a lot, even court summons. At that time, we were writing proceedings to Appeal Court and Upper Area Courts in long hand. We used carbon and foolscap papers to write. I wrote so many to the Appeal Court. Then the proceedings were not so lengthy. Even at that level, it was too much for us. Through that involvement, I got to develop interest in cases. A time came when some of us had an opportunity to go for a Diploma in Law, that is one of the things that government has helped many of us to achieve. That is why some of us have not left government since then for any other thing because ‘to whom much is given, much is expected.’ I went to read Diploma in Law and while in diploma class, all my lecturers loved me so much. I was made the class monitor. In that class, all students of northern states were represented. We were doing very well.
Which school was that?
Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.
Which year?
That was 1976-1978. That was where I developed a special interest in Law. Even before I ended my course, my dean said that I must come back for my degree programme.
So when did you proceed for your degree programme?
I went back immediately. I passed my diploma in 1978 and went for my degree the same 1978 in the last quarter of that year.
Did you do NYSC?
Yes I did. After the LLB! after I was called to the Bar in 1982.
So what was your experience as a corps member?
I had a good experience. I served in Ibadan under the Nigerian Legal Aid Council. It was then headed by Mr. Adeniran. I was serving with Justice Jimmy Bada of the Court of Appeal. I remember Justice Okuimiju of the Court of Appeal. He was there at the Legal Aid Council as a senior officer.
I was posted to Osogbo and I was overseeing Ogbomosho from there.
The office was at No. 5A Okefia Street. We used the chambers of Baba Sheu Oladipo. He is from Ife. Baba is now over 85 years old and he has retired to Ile-Ife.
I really enjoyed my service days. That is why I always tell those who come here that they should not play with their time. In Law, we learn every day. It is a life-long profession. Every aspect of the life of law professionals has to synchronise into the profession for them to enjoy it.
Did you practice after your service days?
I did not practice. I would have veered off from the service when I was doing my NYSC at Osogbo. By that time, Baba Babalakin was in Court One Osogbo. Justice Ajeleye was in Court Two. There were only two courts in Osogbo then.
I was also a member of the Criminal Justice Committee headed by Justice Wale Babalakin. That is how I was introduced to that side of law. I got to know that criminal justice needs a special touch here and there.
When I was there and I was doing the Legal Aid Council job, they said my work was good. I was doing well there at Osogbo and Ilesha. Infact Baba Adeniran knew Justice Kawu very well. He promised to see Justice Kawu and ask him to retain me. I told him that I do not want to be in the Legal Aid Council because I had already signed a bond with the Kwara State Government, that I would serve the state.
Even though people were leaving then, I just felt that it is a duty that I must not breach; that I must fulfill that bond. That was why I did not leave the civil service. While I was at ABU, I was on study leave and after some time, it was with pay. It was called ‘salary ole.’ It was small but it carried me for some time and made my studies to be comfortable. So I did not leave.
So how did you become a member of the Bench?
At the time I came, Justice J.A. Fagbemi, now Justice of the Supreme Court, was a Chief Registrar of the High Court then. He took interest in me. It was under him that I became a magistrate. I was sworn in about August or September, 1983 as a magistrate grade two by Justice S. Kawu who is retired now.
He is the father of the judiciary in Kwara State.
As a magistrate, I was posted to various towns in Kwara State. I was in Offa, when I was called to become the deputy Chief Registrar of the High Court in 1991. That was after the creation of Kogi State. From there I became the Chief Registrar of the High Court in 1993. In 1994, I was appointed a High Court Judge of Kwara State. In 2009, I was Acting Chief Judge for six months. Now I am the Chief Judge.
What has been your experience in the bench of Kwara State?
I have always enjoyed being given a duty or job to do and being left alone to do it. The work of a judge requires no less. Once you have given a judge a job to do, you should know that he is a professional. You should expect that he will put all his professional expertise into the job he is doing. So that judicial appointment has given me that opportunity to develop that trait in me. When you give me a job to do, just leave me to it. Just ask for result.
That is why I cherish judicial independence so that people will have confidence in whatever you are doing. It is not a job that somebody will give you and be telling you what and how and when to do it. Once you have given a judge a job to do, you leave him and not only to the said parties but to his God. Because this job, as I told most of my seniors, is the work of conscience. You must have confidence in yourself that you have done the right thing. That is why it is a job of conscience.
You have delivered your decision, have you satisfied your own conscience too?
I have always enjoyed that.
You have seen the judiciary of many years ago and that of today. Are there differences? Are there things that you think that should be injected to make for efficient delivery of justice nationwide?
Of course. You see the inflow of cases now before the courts is too much. Even those areas where you did not have many cases before, you now have so many now. There are some cases that have some political colouration, sentimental cases, you think they are flying the face of everybody, there should be a way of dealing with those types of cases.
Criminal cases are on the rise. There must be a way of dealing with them. One way which I have identified is that the judiciary should not be neglected to sustain development in all areas because when you can guarantee legal justice to the people is the beginning of good things to come to them. It is the beginning of what will bring satisfaction to them. It makes government to be trying earnest to cater for the greater number of people, their welfare and their comfort. The judiciary must be taken into confidence in the sense that they should be allowed to do such things that will make them to perform their role in the constitution.
If you look at the legal history of Nigeria, you see that relatively, the judiciary has been able to stand. I am not saying that there are no areas where you can say that maybe the judiciary has not done as it ought to do very well. Substantially, the judiciary has performed. So when we are able to have courts as they ought to be, things will be alright. If government fails to take care of judiciary, it will do so at its own peril.
Do you think that the judiciary is well funded nationwide?
The areas that have not been attended to as expected have been identified and that is in those states where the requirement of self accounting of the judiciary has not been well entrenched should be looked into. It has always been said that if the judiciary has to be going cap in hand every now and then, such will not augur well for the state because it will not make the people to have full confidence in the judiciary. If the judiciary is able to have what is due to her at any given time, it will strengthen its independence and make the judiciary to do its work without any distraction.
Should there be a constitutional provision that will ensure that there is a certain amount of money budgeted for the judiciary in the consolidated account to ensure judicial independence and efficient service delivery?
That is an idea that has been generally accepted which is good for the judiciary. That idea will enhance the independence of the judiciary and engender the confidence of the people in it.
As a brilliant undergraduate, you must have been admired by many people, including female students. Did you have girlfriends?
I had friends, men and women, boys and ladies. But there was no unholy alliance between any of us. By that time, what we were concerned was how to improve ourselves, academically when in school. Outside the school, we were engaged in the work we were doing. So when it comes to your home, you look at what is left for the home. Everything had time allotted to it.
Let’s get to know how you came in contact with your wife?
I was already working. I got married in 1975. My parents were asking me that many of my age mates had married and I had not brought any girl to them. I said that is not your business. Leave me alone. My mother especially was very keen. She was not happy.
Though I was working, my concern was to improve myself educationally and I was doing it and was progressing. God showed me it can be done so I did not want anything to stop me. When I was getting fed up with bachelor life, I decided that I must get married. Then I ventured into that.
So how did you meet your wife?
My wife was a teacher. I used to visit some of my friends and relations who were teachers in a primary school at Ijede Ijomo. Each time I visited my friends, she would walk up to us and greet us.
When I was proposing to her, I remember vividly that she approached one of my brothers who told her that I said I liked her and I loved her and that I wanted to marry her. My brother said, ‘eeehhhhh? If you marry that man, you are lucky in life.’ That was the statement made by Jimoh who became a councillor thereafter.
We were moving until 1975. One incident now made me to finally decide to get married to her. One woman gave birth at Olalolu Hospital Offa.
She was also a teacher in the same school with some of my friends.
She came with the woman that gave birth and took care of her.
The way she took care of her mate impressed me a lot. It was total. She was doing the cleaning for her and taking care of the baby and the woman.
I said, ‘oooh! This is my wife.’ I decided I must marry her. Somebody who could be so loving of another person, could be so selfless by leaving her job to come and take care of another person like this. My judgment was right before God. She has been taking good care of me since the time we got married.
Was there any special means by which you packaged yourself and approached her?
There was no special way. With your whole heart, you will know somebody that loves you. I remember when I trekked from Oro to Ijo.
It is a distance of three kilometers. That is where they have a police station. In the market days of Oro, I would trek with my small hand bag. I would get to her school in no time. But today, I cannot trek. That trekking was part of the love. I would trek a distance of three kilometres to that town and come out from another village, just because I was going to look for her. I would trek three kilometers back again. I did this every weekend.
What is your advice to judges and lawyers in Nigeria?
Anybody in the legal profession in Nigeria and who is called to the Bar must understand that much is given to him. Being a legal practitioner in Nigeria, an advocate, a barrister of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, he is a leader by Law and Constitution. If you understand that, that in Nigeria where you already have millions of people, such a person is already by profession a leader, then you know that much is committed to his hands.