Shagari’s Regime Was Golden Era Compared To Successive Govt. – Chief Akinjide SAN

Chief Akinjide

Chief Richard Akinjide SAN , was second republic Attorney- General of the Federation and minster of justice . An eminent international lawyer, he is currently the most senior member of the Bar having being called  in 1956 .
Chief Akinjide who was also a former President of the Nigeria Bar Association, NBA, 1970-1973, in this interview,  spoke on  Alhaji Shehu Shagari’s administration which he served, and the   profession that has fetched him fortune and fame . He also spoke on the legacies his generation  is leaving behind. Excerpts

There is  this pending issue  between former CJN Justice  Katsina Alu and  president Court of Appeal, Justice  Ayo Salami, the 29 man panel has made a recommendation  to the CJN that Salami should be reinstated, but it  appears that there  is  foot -dragging which suggests that the CJN is not well disposed to that  recommendation. What is your view on this?

I have not seen that recommendation, I do not know the content of the report, so  it will be improper of me to make any comment on it without full knowledge of the content of the report.

What is your own personal view on efforts to  reform the judiciary and what do you think should be done at this point in time, even though a panel was  set up in this  regard  and its report had been submitted?

I am in that panel, I signed the final report alongside  others until that report is published it will be improper of me to be seen to be leaking the content of that report, I will not.

But the report is already in public domain?

Is the report published? Please, Until the report is officially released I don’t speak out of template. Any leakages which are being  given out repeatedly, people may have their interests, people may have their reasons why they leaked certain portions of the report and they didn’t leak the other portions of the report. Until the report is fully published and we have access to it from the beginning to the end, I will not give any comment. As a very senior member of the Inner Bar

and former Attorney General of the Federation, how will you describe the standard of legal practice in the country?

There is no doubt the standard has fallen, we still have very eminent lawyers in this country, we still have very eminent Judges who  are as good as any in the English speaking  world. But to be  honest, one can conclude that the standard has gone down and it is  going down. In fact, one of the reasons while the committee was set up was to arrest the decline so that it does not fall completely and I think we have achieved that objective.

You are the former Attorney General of the Federation during the regime of president Shehu Shagari, looking back, how will you recall that period?

I think I should live that judgment for others, it will be wrong of me to be a judge in my own case  having said that, it is my view that  that era was a golden era in this country,  if history is kind to Shagari, he is one of the best president we have ever had, he is incorruptible, patriotic and was committed to the interest of this country on like others who are just treasury looters, who say one thing and do another.We are proud of what we did and history has vindicated Shagari as a very noble , patriotic and great president.

You described that period  as a golden era, so that means you must have made a   comparison. What informed your describing  that time as a golden era?

When Shagari was president, one naira will give you one dollar fifty cent, today, one dollar is about 160 naira and that is totally unacceptable  because the foreign reserves now is much more  than Shagari’s time. We produce more oil now than in Shagari’s time, we didn’t have LNG (liquidfied Natural Gas) in Shagari’s time, we  now have LNG. We produce more cocoa now than we produced then, cocoa is the second largest export after oil.

In other words, we are generating more wealth now than  that time so why should the value of naira be so destroyed?

Why is it that the currencies of Ghana and Gambia are  more valuable than the naira. It doesn’t make sense , so something must be fundamentally wrong . If you want to destroy the economy of any country, just do one thing  destroy the currency of that country,once you do  that, the  destruction will have ripple effects on the wealth, on the economy development, education and  health of that country.

That is exactly what has happened to Nigeria and the demolition contractors are the World bank and IMF. If you have IMF and World Bank as friends, you do not need an enemy. World Bank and IMF will put you in a hole and they will ask you to continue digging and that is what they have done to Nigeria

The military junta that overthrew the administration accused Shagari’s government of being inept and  corrupt among other allegations. You said it was a golden era compared with the present, what do you have to say to this?

You know those charges against Shagari are totally untrue. Why didn’t they probe Shagari ? Have they ever probed him and found him guilty of corruption? How many of his ministers have they ever found guilty of corruption? You know when the military overthrows any government, it’s just wanting to keep a dog and call it a bad name, on the other hand Shagari should be declared a saint and his successors especially the military rulers  should account for the wealth they have. Where did they get them? You are earning salary as military officer you can take calculator. I know their salaries from the day they joined the army and the day they retired all the wealth out side those salaries earnings, where did they get them?


As the then number one law officer of the country , what case would you say was the most challenging as the Attorney General at that period and what made it so?

I had several cases that were challenging and I was called to the Bar in 1956 and definitely that made me the most senior lawyer in the country today and that means I have been practicing law for fifty six years, many senior advocates of Nigeria today were not even born then and I am happy to say  that ten to eleven of my children and grand children are also lawyers, my wife is also a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, I fill fulfilled,  I am grateful to God, and I am still practicing law very actively.

There is hardly any week I am not in court either in the Supreme Court, Court of Appeal or Federal High Court and arbitration and recently when they needed  assistance in the Supreme Court, I was called upon with two other lawyers on the matter involving five state governors. I think that is a big honour and that honour to me is greater than naira and kobo.

Talking about Senior Advocates, would  you say you are satisfied with criteria used for  the conferment of the rank?

All things done by human being  must be subject to innovations and improvements. I am not saying that the system we use is free of fault or sacrosanct but I am sure that the various authorities involved, the Bar and the Bench, are looking into the efficiency, I am sure the matters will continue to be improved upon.

You said you are the most senior lawyer in the country today who are your contemporaries?

I would not want to embarrass anybody  by mentioning name ,  you can check the Bar list.

Certainly some of them are still alive and some of them are dead?

Certainly, some of my contemporaries are either in the Bar or at the Bench. Brilliant people very successful and I am proud of them.

How will you describe the lawyers of those days compared with those of today?

We are still producing extremely brilliant lawyers but I must say the standard has fallen. Before, virtually any product from the Bar was top of the common wealth standard. Standard you get from London, US, Australia you get in Canada, but now because of multiplicities of faculties of law and also of the quality of the people teaching it, the standard has fallen considerably particularly when  state governments established  faculties of law in universities  and they  cannot fund them. But  many private universities with faculties of law are doing extremely well. In fact, I think they are the best  because they must meet up to the standard otherwise they might loose their investments. Further more, many of them are very patriotic.

As the most senior lawyer in the country  that is still in practice today how does it make you feel?

Oh, I feel very happy, if I am not in my chambers, I am in Gambia; I am a member of the Gambia Bar. Just last October, I was in London for one week with my wife by my side and also one of my juniors in our law firm here to handle a very important matter in the United Kingdom. I am a member of the English Bar,  I am a member of the Nigeria Bar, I have the right of practices and I enjoy it.

The beauty of it is that there is no retirement  age in law whether you are 80, 90 or100, you continue practicing. We don’t get pension, apart from that. When  the chemistry of your body is used to certain things, you don’t want to change that. It  also has to do with health and it is big fun, I enjoy it.

Who would you say is the brightest brain this country has produced in terms of legal practice?

I will be unfair for me to name anybody. I can name five, ten, twenty brilliant lawyers that this country has ever produced. I don’t want to mention any name but Nigeria has produced very outstanding lawyers. I will mention them in tens and in twenties who will stand shoulder to shoulder with any lawyer in the English speaking world. We are still producing them in my own family too we have ten to twelve lawyers.

My own daughter is in her last year in Cambridge reading law, many of my grand children are reading law too,  I am not claiming monopoly, it is the same thing with other families. Nigeria has been extremely lucky the only thing that is worrying is that the percentage of quality is diminishing. Before, you can say 90 or 80 percent  now the  reverse is the case . Nigeria has produced first class lawyers both male and female.

Let’s talk about the Chamber which must have produced  eminent lawyers over the years both at the Bar and on the Bench;  would you  like to throw more light on this?

Several. I have produced lawyers who have been SAN, several on the Bench but it is improper to be mentioning names, it is not right. Some people do it but I don’t .They will go on to devalue them, you don’t want to give impression of self promotion either but I can assure you we’ve made  contributions. There is no part of Nigeria you go to without meeting lawyers who have passed through my chambers , go to Port Harcourt, go to Calabar , go to Kaduna all over Nigeria.

In our law firm we do not know tribe what we know is quality and every year we take a lot of them on a  tour, so that they can influence, we train them so that we can have what we call imprimatur to touch their lives as part of our contributions to the society and to the country.

Apart from all these areas you have mentioned,  what other aspect  will you say you have contributed to the  development of legal profession in the country?

We have given out scholarships, we have given prices. In  University of Ibadan I have four prices in law which is given out annually. In the University of Jos where I was the chairman of the council of Pro-Chancellors we give prices. In the Nigeria Law School, I have annual prices on law of evidence. In the University of Cambridge  which many of my children attended I have annual prices. So the sky is not the limit.

Any regret  in the course of your career as a lawyer?

No regret at all, I have been extremely lucky and I have prayed to God to give other people such good luck and also to give them  long life and prosperity and to let Nigeria grow from strength to Strength in Unity.

What legacy will you say your generation is leaving behind  in the legal profession?

We are leaving behind many legacies. One of them is  when you read the law report you will discover that my generation contribute a lot to the development of the law at the highest level and at first class level , we also contribute moral, honesty, virtue and discipline which  are important. Money is not every thing in life also many of the people in my generation have brought up many good children who are also contributing to the development of the country and lastly we are  patriotic. We love this country, we served this country and we are proud of this country.