Lawyer charges stakeholders in judiciary on self-examination

Former Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice in Ogun State, Mr. Wemimo Ogunde (SAN) has charged stakeholders in the judiciary to take up to their responsibility in the discharge of their professional call noting that they should constantly examine themselves for a better tomorrow.

He made this disclosure yesterday in Ilorin Kwara State at the public presentation of 20th Journal of the Faculty of Law, University of Ilorin titled ‘ The Jurist’ ‎in honour of Layi Babatunde (SAN) for his support on the legal education in the country.

Ogunde in his speech titled ‘The Three Days of a Lawyer’ said the journey of life falls into three stages; that which is past, that which being spent and that which to come and the existence of today that gives the lawyer an opportunity to begin to rectify that which was objectionable yesterday.

He posited that the ingredients of a legal career,character, competence and confidence are made ready for use in whatever state they are.

According to him,‎ if a legal career has already started on a bad note in the sense that the lawyer in the early years if his career got himself or herself involved in some unethical behaviour, the existence of today affords an opportunity to redress that past.

“It is what is being done now that ultimately count. How glorious yesterday was, the poor use of today can pollute or degrade the good of yesterday. The today law continues to use the vast reservoir of yesterday for the purpose of making law improve the society and positively affect the citizenry. It is obvious that law is a flowing river that constantly gathers the floatsam of yesterday, learns from the mistake that brought them forth and clears them away with the powerful current of today’s flow of fresh waters.

“The impact of continuing legal education is seen only in the today of the lawyer since it recognizes that the application of law to conduct within the society constantly faces resistance brought about by the complexity of human activity both in the individual and in relationships. The result is that yesterday departs leaving in its wake the debris of error both from the bar and the bench. Some of these errors are costly. They might have resulted in wrongful convictions, deprivation of settled rights and some others acts of misfortune. The beauty of today is that it prevents a repetition or perpetuation of such errors bringing about new life for tomorrow which are evident in law reforms, judicial activism and intellectual reviews.”

Earlier, the former President of the Court of Appeal, retired Justice Ayo Salami who was the Chairman of the occassion, in his remark‎ extolled the virtues of the honoree. He regarded Layi as a brother who distinguished himself in the Legal Profession.

He commended Layi’s Supreme Court Report as a tool which lawyers work with and that it resolves conflict in inherent in practice. He pointed out that legal profession is not all about money but a profession that bears society’s problem. He said: “Unfortunately lawyers in recent times have not been carrying out their roles. Lawyers these days neglect their role”. He therefore charged the student to emulate the honouree who he described as someone that is honest, trustworthy and reliable .

Also, ‎the Vice Chancellor of the University of Ilorin, Prof. Abdulganiyu Ambali congratulated the leadership and the entire members of the society on its recent acknowledgment as the best law faculty in the country by the Council of Legal Education Nigeria and urged them to keep it up.