In court, lawyers speak from the bar. When they have something they don’t want the gallery to hear, they approach the bench and whisper to the judge. When they want to impress their clients and litigants, they dance to the gallery. When the judge wants to speak, he insists on being heard in silence.
In court, the bar is the place for lawyers, not the witness box or the dock. It’s witnesses that stand in the witness box, and accused persons in the dock. The man in the dock carries with him a heavy burden, a burden to prove his innocence otherwise he would move from the dock straight to prison, even though the maxim in Nigeria is that the burden of proof lies with the accuser.
The stigma of standing in the dock can be a very huge burden to dispose of, whether the accused escapes conviction or not. Merely being stripped and kept behind the counter at a police station carries a lot of stigma. That’s likely why the Nigerian would do anything including paying bribes to avoid being arrested, handcuffed or charged to court, and accusers do anything to get their enemies arrested and put behind bars.
The social media literally put legal juggernaut and chief, Onueze Chukwujinka Okocha in the dock after the governor of Rivers State, Siminalayi Fubara, preached at the opening of the 2024 legal year at St. Paul’s Cathedral, Diobu on Thursday October 17th. Flustered by the barrage of court orders flying against his interests from the Federal High Court in Abuja, the governor used the opportunity of the opening of the legal year, to take an umbrage against certain senior lawyers, who he accused of misleading litigants on the current political crisis in the state.
Without mentioning any name, Fubara said, “Some of you, you say you are legal luminaries. You know the truth, but you will go on to pacify your pay masters to turn the law upside down.
“We all know the law when it comes to issues that have to do with the administration of governance in the State; it is within the jurisdiction of the State High Court.
“It doesn’t matter whether you joined INEC, or Police. It is a State’s matter! I am not a lawyer, but I know that one. And you stand and say you are doing the right thing? God will judge you.”
How do you put a man of the stature of OCJ Okocha in the dock? Chief Onueze Chukwujinka Okocha, Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Justice of the Peace, Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR), Life Bencher, former member Federal Judicial Service Commission, former Vice-Chairman, Body of Benchers, Chairman of the Body of Benchers, former Chairman of the Council of Legal Education, former member of the National Judicial Council, permanent member of the National Executive Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association, former Chairman, Judiciary Services Commission of the NBA, former President of the Nigerian Bar Association, former Attorney General and Commissioner of Justice of the old Rivers State, former Chairman of the Port Harcourt Branch of the Nigerian Bar Association, former Secretary of the Nigerian Bar Association, Port Harcourt Branch, Eze Nwa Gbaganu Oha of Obio, Port Harcourt Big Boy, son of a retired commissioner of police, grandson of a king, great grandson of a native court judge, brother to a former chief judge, father of four lawyers and Grand Master of Grand Lodge of Nigeria.
OCJ sat in his full senior lawyer’s regalia on the front row right under the lectern from where Governor Fubara made his angry speech. He didn’t betray any emotion at all. He just opened the brochure for the event and pretended to be reading it.
Even if the governor’s speech was not targeted at him, OCJ is a well-known acquaintance of Fubara’s main traducer, Chief Nyesom Wike, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory and estranged political godfather of Fubara.
Despite his celebrated pedigree, Okocha’s physical stature is intimidating enough to scare anyone out of his wits. He is tall, huge and bearded. The grey on his head and cheeks are intimidating weapons of age, wisdom and mesmerism.
Without any surety in sight, he can secure his bail any day and anytime on self recognizance. He would not need to flaunt the clout of his friends and classmates of the law class of 1977 of Ife and the Law School class of 1978, whose members constitute a large chunk of the senior advocates of Nigeria and appellate court judges to save him. As a very senior old boy of Government Comprehensive Secondary School, Port Harcourt, the Semper Paratus (Always Prepared) boys would always be there for him. After all, it was through his influence that Rivers State Government recently fully rebuilt the school.
While making his speech, Fubara could be seen acting like an imaginary David shooting at an imaginary Goliath. At a point he lost composure and confessed that he was not a lawyer, that he was only trying to express himself on what he thought senior lawyers ought to do but were not.
The social media took it from there. They dragged the senior advocate, trolled and bullied him. They even brought in his private family issues. If people died from cyber bullying, the man would have died that weekend. But lawyers and judges are mysterious beings.
OCJ Okocha might appear intimidating, but that is only to people that see him from afar. I first came across him in 1992 when he was the commissioner for justice and attorney general of old Rivers State. Tall and handsome, he did not cut the picture of the radical lawyers I was used to in Lagos. The state was hosting the National Conference of the NBA at the Port Harcourt Civic Centre, and he was playing the role of the chief host.
He was on his feet 24 hours a day attending to issues. In addition to his role as host, he was running for the National Publicity Secretary of the association. Everything looked good for him to win when the court order suspending the process was read to the conference. That was it. I wrote it as the lead story the following day for Sunray that it was the first time in the 103 years history then of the Nigerian bar that they met at a conference and failed to elect a new leadership. It was a very painful experience for him, Rivers State and the NBA.
It was Lagos lawyers led by Femi Falana that secured that order. It was about the largest conference of the NBA, and for the first time, it seemed that the bars in Lagos were not going to dictate the direction of the leadership of the NBA. Ibrahim Bashir from Kano had mobilized enough from across the country to trounce the acting President, Mrs. Priscilla Kuye, who had become acting president after Chief Clement Akpamgbo was named Federal Attorney General. Kuye wanted the conference to just endorse her and not subject her to an election. But Bashir came well prepared.
OCJ went on to become National President of NBA eight years later under a stabilised NBA. That was after he was conferred with the award of a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, the highest privileged recognition a Nigerian lawyer can attain. From then on he became engaged in strings of national service for almost two decades at the highest levels of the judiciary and legal practice in Nigeria.
When I had occasion to interview him a few years ago, I braced myself to the task. How was I going to handle it?
How would he respond to the request for the interview? OCJ law chambers is about the biggest in Port Harcourt. Manuchim Chambers hosts a big bank branch and a large furniture company. While waiting to be ushered into his vast office, I did a scan of the outer chambers. His image as the Grandmaster of the Grand Lodge of Nigerian Lodge of the Freemasons loomed large.
Then the time came. I was ushered in to see him. The first thing that struck me was his simplicity. Casually dressed in a simple shirt and trouser, he sat behind a big deal and showed me to my seat opposite him. He spoke without using any of those esoteric expressions and got me relaxed by asking to know my village. He discussed my village issues with me and we got on very easy throughout the interview.
I listened intently to hear his response when the social media tossed him about after the St Paul’s incident. I didn’t hear from him. The opportunity came a few days later when he spoke at a reception Wike organised for the embattled members of the house of assembly loyal to him. All he said was that the wheel of justice might grind slowly but it grinds surely irrespective of the sentiments against it, even though he is worried that “the wheels of justice do not turn as quickly, speedily, effectively and efficiently as they ought to turn in Nigeria”
One quote that stood out in an interview he recently granted a national daily was, “The best one can do for a dead person is to bury the corpse.” He said so to explain why he declines briefs on disputes over the burial of deceased people. What is dead should be buried, and not be used to create issues among the living.
• Emmanuel Obe is a multiple award winning Nigerian veteran journalist, Poet and novelist.
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