I have coined the word “Polemoir” as a blend of ‘polemic’ and ‘memoir’ to describe Dele Farotimi’s book titled Nigeria and Its Criminal Justice System (2024), because it incorporates the features of a polemic (an argument/controversy) and a memoir (an autobiographical work that describes the writer’s personal experiences with a focus on a particular subject or period).
Following the meaning contrived in the title, which exposes the “criminalities” in the justice system of Nigeria as a whole, and the libelous suit filed against the writer by one of the doyens of the Nigerian bar, Aare Afe Babalola – which skyrocketed its sales globally – I joined many of its growing community of readers with the hope of welcoming the “insights” that the title encapsulates.
But as I began from the blurb on the back penned by the Nigerian journalist, Rufai Oseni, my great expectation for objectivity surpassing sentiment began to diminish.
I have always questioned the professionalism of Nigerian journalists who would spend three minutes on a question that should not take more than five seconds to ask, especially those who always assert themselves with opinions that leaves one unsure who the guest is; and who fondly interrupt any guest espousing an opinion different from what they wish to hear. That is by the way, and I crave the reader’s absolution for digressing.
Given that Dele Farotimi is well known as an ardent supporter of Peter Obi, the Presidential candidate of the Labour Party (whom I also supported), the author quickly refutes the timing of the publication of the book as being a post-traumatic effect of the Supreme Court’s judgement that upheld President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the winner of arguably the most controversial and closely contested Presidential election in the history of Nigeria. Farotimi assures that his position precedes his involvement “with the Peter Obi presidential campaign” and that his exertions are “completely nonpartisan.”
He further reveals that the “manuscript of the book has been ready for publication since May 2023” but he waited for the announcement of the presidential election by the Supreme Court before publishing it. This raises doubts as to whether this book would have seen the light of the day, had the Supreme Court announced the author’s preferred candidate as winner of the presidential election.
Perhaps, the Nigerian justice system would have been celebrated ̶ just perhaps!
Nevertheless, the author rails against the ruling, and lampoons the Nigerian judiciary thus, “The last hope of the common man in Nigeria is lost and the CJN might as well prescribe the removal of the colonial wig and degree that every judge should adorn the Tinubu cap in its stead”.
Farotimi’s Nigeria and Its Criminal Justice System is almost in half a memoir about the writer’s passion for law from his childhood, portraying a family background in which he posits he “was born a lawyer”, to his various legal work experiences that show scant decay in the Nigerian justice system as he presumes in the title.
The writer, himself, acknowledges the classification of the book as a form of life writing thus, “whilst this book was never intended as an autobiography, it is necessarily thematically autobiographical”.
The other “half” largely presents the lawyer’s arguments around a single overarching case widely known as the Gbadamosi-Eletu’s Case.
The cases encapsulated in the book show it is less about the Nigerian judiciary as a whole and more precisely about the Gbadamosi-Eletus’ case in Lagos. The book indicts Aare Afe Babalola, the law firm of S.B Joseph and co., Atilade, O (justice), and Oyekan Abdullahi (justice) ̶ the latter, who served as the chairwoman at Farotimi’s wedding ceremony, is accused of being “the instrument of injustice employed to deny” the writer’s suit against Babalola in court.
Lawyers are wont to say in Latin, “nemo judex in causa sua” which means a person should not be judge in a case where their interests are involved. This notion disqualifies any assumption that truth is completely presented in the book.
Based on the African proverb that says, “the reason we all have two ears is to listen to both sides of an argument”, the reader may also expect to “hear” the versions of the aforementioned accused individuals before picking a side.
Given that the Nigerian judiciary, like many other organizations in the world, has its merits and demerits, this article posits that the delineated judicial anomalies that surround Gbadamosi Eletu vs Ojomu’s case are not sufficient to “de-market” the entire Nigerian judicial system as being “criminal”.
The “polemoirist” hyperbolizes thus:
“I have seen injustice everywhere within the Nigerian court system. I am a lawyer with over two decades of law practice behind me. I have interacted with our judicial system as a practitioner, as a victim, and as the aggrieved. There is no justice to be had in our criminal justice system and I have become convinced that the system itself is criminal and completely incapable of delivering justice to anyone….”
From the foregoing, the notion of not obtaining justice in what the book labels as “criminal justice system” is contradicted in the same book which also portrays a case that the writer won for one of his clients thus, “I took solace in comforting myself by using the Balogun case as proof that the clients that lost faith in my capacity to deliver justice to them were wrong….”
The book accuses Babalola of manipulating the Supreme Court in the “254 Hectares of Land grabbing case” (Gbadamosi Eletu vs Ojomu) in Lagos and describes him as “the grandmaster of judicial corruption in Nigeria”.
While the writer insinuates that he is part of the corrupt system; “I have done whatever I have needed to do in order to advance my clients’ interests in the past but I have always been careful to play within the rules”, he considers himself brave ̶ “I am no shrinking violet” to point out those who have not “been careful to play within the rules” of the Nigerian laws.
The writer’s acceptance that he is “no saint” seems to infer that since no one is without sin, those with lesser sins may call out those with greater sins.
Among many other allegations, the author alleges to have “seen enough by the end of September 2013 to be convinced that there was a high-level conspiracy involving elements in the Supreme Court, the Lagos judiciary, Afe Babalola and his crew and with the Eletus as co-beneficiaries”, that “Afe was offered part of the land that had been packaged for Eletus by the Lagos conspirators”, and presents court evidence alin the annexure to the book to show that “the Supreme Court’s judgement was doctored”.
The book seems to depict the traumatic effect of a lawyer losing a case “unjustly”. The memoirist reveals this thus, “the trauma of the Eletu case left me increasingly disillusioned with the law and the pursuit of the corruptors of the court of justice became very personal to me….”
Farotimi avers that the book is a response and “protest” to Oyekan-Abdullahi’s (justice) refusal to attend to the libel suit he once filed against Afe before going further to allege that , “Afe has been corrupting the Supreme Court from ages past and has led it to commit the most egregious acts of evil and wanton injustice.”
Taken together, the book is worthwhile as a “polemoir” that seeks to open up the never-ending space in the classification of modern literary works.
While the book specifically depicts the rot within the Lagos judiciary in the case of Gbadamosi Eletu vs Ojomu, this review opines that the case is not enough to criminalize the entire judicial system in Nigeria.
To close using the rhetorical question posed in the book’s preface that, “after all, of what use is a lawyer without his facts?” Farotimi’s Nigeria and Its Criminal Justice System indicts itself as a personal narrative of a Nigerian lawyer.
*** Oyeleke Sunday Michael, a scholar, poet, critic, essayist, and short stories writer holds both B.A and M.A. in English (Literature) from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. He currently teaches English Language at Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Samaru, Zaria.
