‘I’ll always speak and fight for the less privileged’

Monday Onyekachi Ubani was a former chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Ikeja branch. Ubani, who later served as the second vice president of the NBA and also the chairman of the NBA Section on Public Interest and Development Law (NBA-SPIDEL), recently took silk as he clocks 60. He shares his journey with some journalists, and JOSEPH ONYEKWERE was there for The Guardian.

Recently, an opinion was expressed regarding the constitutionality of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Do you agree with that?
The EFCC is a creation of the National Assembly. Some are saying that the operation of EFCC towards the state in a federal state is wrong because that law ought to be adopted just as we have the Child Rights Act, which is an Act of the National Assembly adopted by states. So, if we are operating a federal system of government, it would be wrong for an Act enacted by the National Assembly that should only apply to Abuja, to be used to apply to all the federations. But the question is: are we operating a proper federal system? If we claim to, how about the National Judicial Commission (NJC), which is a federal body that recruits judges for the various states?

Ordinarily, the states are supposed to recruit their justices, but the NJC does it for them. Maybe the argument is, let’s put it in the constitution, which is what Dr Olisa Agbakoba (SAN) is also saying. If we add it, it becomes an agency that will cover all the states without any technical hitch.
However, the Supreme Court of Nigeria has recognised the legality of the EFCC in several decided cases. The argument now is that it is not constitutionalised and should not apply to all the states because we are operating a federal system of government. But if you allow the states to enact anti-corruption laws; forget about the corruption fight in Nigeria, it will be dead. Can you imagine a governor who has stolen so much to allow an agency that fights corruption in his state to arrest him? Even after the tenure of a governor, he hands over to his crony.
As I speak to you, with the EFCC even intervening in various states, those governors that were godsons of the previous governors will make sure that they hide all the records from the EFCC. Then you can imagine when it becomes a state agency, where the governors have taken so much out of the system, and you think the governor will be prosecuted?
So, the issue is that we will want EFCC to still be a federal agency but created in such a manner that it will apply to all the states of the federation. It has its deficiencies, though. It’s not a perfect institution, just like no institution is very perfect, but it’s better to have an EFCC that operates all over the federation than to have an EFCC that is made by state law and operates at the state level.

How do you feel clocking 60 and taking silk at the same time?
I’m very happy that I have arrived at the 6th floor. That is when you become a senior citizen, which is what I am now. So, I’m happy that God has preserved my life up to this point. I’m also happy to be a Senior Advocate of Nigeria. I believe in destiny, I believe in God, and I believe that God’s time is always the best. I never knew that I would be a senior advocate in my lifetime because the process is very rigorous.
It wasn’t until three years ago, when a senior advocate of Nigeria-designate saw me on the road and said, Mr. Ubani, I cannot be a senior advocate and you are not one. That was how the desire was rekindled. He drove to my office with me and told my lawyers to assemble my cases. I started bringing out those cases. Some of them had expired because of the 10-year duration time frame. Then those that were still fresh, I began to gather them.
He was the one who pointed out the guidelines for me. That was when I read the guidelines. I saw that you need to get reference letters from the justices who handled your cases. Until then, I didn’t know about all that. Those of them that we didn’t have letters and most of the justices have retired, we started looking for a way to get those letters from them. I now put my mind to it and then started ensuring that those basic requirements were complied with.

Notwithstanding, some believe that unfit persons are sometimes appointed based on influence. Is that true?
I don’t know whether there is anyone who passed through without getting the basic requirements. If you don’t have it, no matter who you are, you can’t even move to the next stage because it’s up to four filtrations. After the first filtration, they can raise queries on the second filtration. If you can escape those queries and enter the third, which is now the chamber’s inspection. If you pass that, you now enter another oral interview.
It’s something that every lawyer should pray that God will help him get at the first attempt. But the second time, you may even die. There is a lawyer who collapsed. He was in the process. He collapsed and died while going to the Supreme Court.
But if it doesn’t happen once, the desire to be a senior advocate should also propel you to go for the second time. It is a rigorous process and so, you must be very patient, focused and prayerful.

Despite the infiltrations you mentioned and the rigours involved, some still believe it should be abolished so all lawyers practice without privileges. Do you share the same position?
Every lawyer desires to attend the peak of his career. No person will not want to attain that peak. I’m not saying that the process is so perfect because it’s being run by human beings. But the point is that the process that I passed through was very rigorous. It gives me that confidence that whoever is made a SAN, should be sound in everything. Sound in character, sound in behaviour, sound in leadership, sound in advocacy, sound even in being patient and showing skill, because that is a peak. So, why would you not show leadership even in court, in terms of even being fair to junior lawyers? It is not a position that you use to oppress others.
It is God who has elevated you to be on top. So, I don’t see anything wrong in having a senior advocate of Nigeria. Yes, you can make suggestions about improvement of the process, but not that it should be scrapped.
One of the arguments is that whoever is qualified should be given. But others say no, that it is a privilege. So, being a privilege, it is not everyone who qualified that should be given. Do we give it to everyone qualified, or should we say it is a privilege for only a few? So, that is where we need to balance it. But if you ask me, it is worth it. It is the process you have passed through that makes you know that you cannot in any way give anything less to society because you are now regarded as being at the peak of your career. So, you must be able to manifest excellence in leadership.

Another aspect of the debate borders on the award of the rank to academics. What is your view on it?
There are different layers of the argument concerning academics, part of which is: how can you be an advocate when you should concentrate on lecturing? If you want to be an advocate, leave lecturing and come to advocate. The title is Senior Advocate of Nigeria but this person is not an advocate, he’s an academic. And they have a platform under which they can also attain the peak of their career. Like now I’m doing a doctorate at the university, after which if I want to be a professor, I’ll start writing to qualify for the highest rank, which is to be a professor.
You are already a professor but trying to shortchange those who have lined up as advocates. If you are coming as an advocate, it is a different thing. A lecturer is a lecturer. If he goes to court and satisfies the requirement of submitting all the necessary cases handled as an advocate, he can’t be stopped. There was one who was a professor and got the rank of advocate because he had been going to court. So, if you now say you advocate, then you must apply under the advocacy category and not academics.

There is a group suggesting that the award of the rank should not be yearly, but at least two to three years. What do you think about it?
That was the argument of the Body of Benches at the time. There was a particular year when they felt that the standard was being lowered. So, they wrote to the Legal Practitioners Privileges Committee to suspend the process for at least three years to look at the process again and probably come up with something better. I think it’s also part of human nature. When you cross a river, if you are not generous enough, you don’t want every person to cross. Maybe in that place you have crossed, there is too much gold there and only a few people are sharing it. So, you want to remain in that goldmine and shut out others who intend to cross over to share with you the treasure.
One guy asked me, how many of you were awarded the rank? I told him we were many. He was so angry. He said in their own time, there were only 15 people.
So, he wants us to remain at 15. When you look at how many senior advocates we have in Nigeria, they are not up to a thousand and that includes those who have died, for a country of 200 million. So those who have succeeded in crossing over want only a few of them to be there. That is human nature, especially for black men.

Why did you choose to be a lawyer?
I was admitted to study political science at the University of Nigeria. I used to admire lawyers like the late Gani Fawehnmi and Rotimi Williams. One day, a boy challenged me that if I was brilliant, why didn’t I enrol for law? If you see the arrogance of lawyers at that time, they call themselves learned. I wondered why he felt I could not study law and took up the challenge. I was already entering my third year in political science. So, I changed to law and started in year one.

You are known for activism and human rights advocacy. Now that you are a SAN, what will change in terms of delivering pro bono services?
Nothing will change. It is inborn for anyone to always fight for justice. The fact that the late Chief Gani Fawehnmi (SAN), Olisa Agbakoba (SAN), Femi Falana (SAN) and Mike Ozekhome (SAN) attained the privileged rank and it didn’t diminish their desire to speak on behalf of the people, it will be wrong for me to become disillusioned with the masses. I cannot fight against the same masses that have always been there for me, speak against them or identify with the oppressors or the bourgeoisie. It will be clearly against my principles. So, I will always speak and fight for the less privileged.