Professor of law, Mike Ozekhome (authorities say he can’t answer Silk for now), has always been a colourful personality, maybe with a bit more needless theatricality in delivery while pursuing jurisprudential comfort for self and others. The showmanship craft, while using law as an asset in obtaining social justice, is more prevalent amongst the alumni of the Gani Fawehinmi Institute of Judicial Altruism, but arguably no other breed in the Nigerian legal community has pursued justice for the underprivileged like the now-late Oyesola and his mentees. Ozekhome is a “proud” product of the Fawehinmi factory; loud for a purpose.
For most of the eight years the presidency of the now-late Muhammadu Buhari ran, especially the first four years of the Katsina retired general, the Edo-born showman was practically locked in a battle of attrition with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), seen under then-chairman Ibrahim Magu as the guillotine the Buhari administration was using to decapitate its enemies. Ayo Fayose, then Ekiti governor and a venomous opponent of President Buhari, was understandably one of those so tagged. And Ozekhome was (I believe still is) his courtroom shield. But Fayose wasn’t even the most valued client of the senior lawyer. There was (and I believe still is) Goodluck Jonathan. You don’t serve a president who has just been acrimoniously deposed as a personal attorney and not be a target for the successor.
But there seems to be more camaraderie between the two South-South sons than one just covering up judicially for the other and, no doubt, in the process, benefiting from being the chosen one to defend the person of the country’s president. During one of his birthday soirées in his Abuja home, to which judicial correspondents were invited, Jonathan, as president, showed up to felicitate his lawyer! He came in quietly and left quietly though the paths of an elephant would always bear giant footprints.
Despite also leaving power quietly in 2015, it would seem Jonathan and his orbit were perennial targets of the Buhari administration, with Fayose coming up prime. Magu’s goons would not even allow him to leave office before the lawfare began despite the constitutional immunity, and guess who was in the thick of it; Ozekhome.
Between 2016 and 2017, the senior lawyer had become a major battle focus for the agency as he was ubiquitous in scuttling imminent judicial victories for the EFCC in different courts around the country. He became Magu’s magun (keep-off charm) for those targeted for decimation, denying the now-retired senior police officer the joy of showcasing convictions as evidence of fighting alleged corruption.
For the EFCC, Ozekhome had become somewhat of a stumbling block that must at least be shifted if it couldn’t be cast off and thrown into the sea. Magu brought a criminal claim against him; he was accused of criminally moving cash for Fayose, whose accounts were targeted for transaction restrictions. Ozekhome got Fayose’s accounts unfrozen, then the controversial Ekiti governor moved N75 million into his lawyer’s account as legal fees and all hell let loose!
Magu went after Ozekhome’s accounts, froze them, and slammed a criminal charge of money laundering against him. Even some senior lawyers sniggered at the Fayose deal. Many agreed with Magu that the legal fee was suspicious. But Mike was unmoved. After the courtroom’s back and forth, Gani’s boy triumphed and, in a dramatic moment captured on camera as he exited the court, he went down on his knees, bowed his head to God in appreciation and connected his forehead with the ground, the Muslim praying way, openly acknowledging his God! I told myself in my heart this man can’t possibly suffer public shame again.
You ask how I came to that conclusion? Did God, in rejecting Eli and his household for continued priesthood in 1 Samuel 2:30, not say “for them that honour me I will honour and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed?”
Yes, a bit of theatrics might have been ingrained into the act, but how does God not countenance a “big” man by at least Nigerian standards (and even abroad, presidential friendship is a big deal), practically casting his “crown” to publicly honour Him as his Strength?
True, Jesus says the best way to show Him love is through our obedience and that would include staying away from “staining” rewards and straining “relationships”, but giving open testimony, like he did again in the courtroom by singing praise to God on his knees after he got then Cross River governor Ben Ayade judicially preserved in office following his defection to the APC, couldn’t have counted against him before his God. Did the children of Israel, particularly the dance-loving women, not file out with cymbals in appreciation to God after the demolition of the forces of Egypt and crossing of the Red Sea? While the open artistic demonstration of gratitude to God is debatable at the juncture of hypocrisy and deeds, it’s still commendable that a man of his status is openly identifying with God as his Strength, not the arm of flesh or brilliance.
But he has a way of picking his clients or, more like, attracting them. It would seem the good, the bad, and the ugly stream to him in equal measure.
In an interview with The Punch newspaper edition of February 25, 2017, he explained his ordeal with the EFCC thus: “They want to embarrass me because between March last year and January this year, which is about 10 months, I have defeated the EFCC in five cases in various courts in Nigeria. First, I defeated the EFCC in the case of EFCC vs. Governor Ayodele Fayose before the Federal High Court in Ado-Ekiti in a judgement delivered by Justice Taiwo Taiwo on December 13, 2016. The court ordered that the EFCC should defreeze the account immediately and make the account operational because the freezing of the account was illegal, unconstitutional, unlawful, wrongful and unorthodox.
“Second, in March last year, one Col. Nicholas Achinze was detained by the Nigerian Army. They and the EFCC were playing this man like a yoyo. The Army would detain him today, the EFCC would detain him tomorrow. I went to court before Justice Yusuf Halilu of the FCT High Court. I defeated the EFCC. The court ordered that the colonel should be released immediately and all his seized properties be released to him.
“Third, in December last year in Abuja, I defeated the EFCC at the Federal High Court before Justice Nnamdi Dimgba in a case in which they had sealed the property of Governor Ayodele Fayose in some parts of Abuja and Lagos. I got the Federal High Court to unseal the property.
“Even while that case was still going on, they (EFCC) went again surreptitiously to the court of Justice (Okon) Abang to get another order to seal the same property which had been unsealed by Justice Dimgba because they (EFCC) live above the law, contrary to their motto that no one is above the law. Fourth, in January this year, a lawyer, Sylvanus Okpetu, practising in Warri, was reported by Julius Berger to the EFCC over a contract. The EFCC went to Warri, abducted this lawyer like a common criminal, detained him overnight in Warri and flew him to Abuja.
“In Abuja, they also detained him for some days. I went to the FCT High Court last month. The court declared the detention, arrest and seizure of his properties illegal and awarded the sum of N6m damages against the EFCC. The court also awarded the sum of N3m damages against Julius Berger that reported the matter to the EFCC. The good news is that Julius Berger has since paid the N3m to my client, but trust the EFCC, when you defeat them, rather than accept it for once that they can be defeated, they would either use the crude machinery of government against you or they go on appeal.”
Then his current travail, which trivialises the former. All things are supposed to become new for a genuine child of God, which I take Prof. to be, but a past is back haunting, hunting and hurting. How Prof. will make up for the lost ground in high moral standards, which appear to be the distinguishable creed as a Gani alumnus, is beyond me right now but God is infinite in everything, including miracles. He can still restore the famed Senior Advocate of the Masses, one-time Gani’s direct deputy as the deputy head of chambers, celebrated author and scholar. But I read the UK ruling on the mess associated with the now-late General Jeremiah Useni (a.k.a. Jerry Boi) has covered Ozekhome with. If those claimed facts and pieces of evidence hold, the Enobakhare of Benin Kingdom is in a real mess beyond the suspension of his Silk title. How did it get to the point of alleged forgery for whatever the UK house is worth? What about the name, the brand and the massive national and international goodwill as a foremost human rights fighter?
It is likely some might find my seeming ululating needless. They may wonder why I’m doing the Samuel mourning thing over a rejected Saul. To this band, Ozekhome is one of “them” after all; the perceivably “dirty” judicial blue blood and all his acts of public good since his menteeship at Fawehinmi Chambers, mere baloney for gains. Yes, the judiciary is struggling with a poor image and the Bar, especially the Inner Bar, is widely seen as always in stupor over sleaze. Senior lawyers are regularly whispered about as bribe couriers and money-laundering agents for politicians who masquerade as high-net-worth clients. This is aside from forum shopping and bribing judges. It would seem the SAN title is now mostly for licentious behaviour, including wanton larceny. The judiciary leadership has dealt with many culprits, but mostly from the Bench end. Successive Bar leaderships, responsible for taming the monster of moral decay and professionalism flight among senior lawyers, would appear condoning, though there have been occasional crackings of coconut with some heads. But the big guns mostly get away after occasional noise, like the kind recently made around the NBA president himself about an unproven bribery saga. That was February this year. The noise quietens after a while and Silk is back around the collar.
Will it be so for Ozekhome? Doubtful. At a point, all of the EFCC, ICPC, Code of Conduct Bureau and the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) filed criminal charges against him over the same Useni property saga! He is quietly fighting the accusations but he may emerge from the alleged forgery scandal completely muted, losing his hitherto rousing voice in the defence of the defenceless. If he ends up having to plea bargain to avoid a jail term, he would have been derobed of the moral invincibility that the Gani-made always pride themselves on. That would be so sad. Nigeria, Nigerians, the human rights community and the rest of humanity could still use Ozekhome’s voice. Losing it to this scandal is the greatest tragedy that could come from his ongoing trial.
People make mistakes but lawyers are quick to remind us that ignorance is not an excuse in law. At the height of his battle with the EFCC nine years ago, Ozekhome accused the agency of targeting him because of his criticism of the Buhari administration. I have not really heard him pummel this administration in the last three years, which made the fuss over him a bit strange, though without excusing a crime. I also hope this has nothing to do with Jonathan’s projected presidential run next year. Nigerians wait, though.
The Silk Ozekhome lost temporarily days back was awarded 17 years ago. But I have known him for a longer period, though the closest we were ever outside of professional engagements was his offering me a ride to Abuja city centre, where his abode is, from the airport after discovering we were on the same flight from somewhere. I sat around his book-suffocated personal office for a while before he asked his driver to drop me at the National Judicial Council (NJC), where I was headed. He is both a media delight and a passionate rights fighter.
Ozekhome is a prominent Edo son, carrying two heavy traditional titles. But one is of particular interest to me: Akpakpa Vighi Vighi of Edoland.
The sound of it is scary, no doubt, but it is a rare honour jointly bestowed on recipients by the council of traditional rulers in the state.
That is how heavy it is!
The state, especially its capital, Benin, with its over 800 distinct deities, hero-deities and ancestral spirits, is home to the gods and you expect a Kiriji-sounding title like his to belong to them. But strangely, Ozekhome’s traditional title is a praise to the Almighty God, meaning “the force that no other force can stop, except the force of God”. An acknowledgment of God’s superiority again!
The holder of the title is regarded as the Generalissimo or Supreme Commander of the traditional armed and cultural forces of Edoland. Just like the Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland.
Well, the current holder, Iba Gani Adams, was also in detention for a while on his Yoruba emancipation struggle. But that was before his current prestigious status.
Maybe Ozekhome’s fellowship with his Maker isn’t cosmetic after all, despite his foibles like the rest of us. May God see him through. Amen.
