“Read The Judgement Before Attacking Judiciary”- Wole Olanipekun Warns Lawyers
Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Chief Wole Olanipekun has admonished lawyers to painstakingly read through judgments delivered by the courts before attacking the judiciary.
The visiting professor of Law Practice at the Federal University,Oye-Ekiti,(FUOYE) also decried the trend where lawyers go to television and radio houses to run down the courts.
Speaking at the sideline of the third lecture series of the Faculty of Law, FUOYE, titled, ‘ Bridging the Gap Between Theory and Practise: Effective Strategy for Using Law As a Tool for Social Justice In Nigeria’ the former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) said “it is wrong for anyone to insinuate or hold the notion that justice is being denied in Nigeria.”
Warning lawyers against pushing the judiciary to the Golgotha,the former Chairman, Body of Benchers also used the ocassion to outlined the ethical procedures for challenging court judgements.
According to him “put your observations on paper, critique and criticize them in law journals, that is what it is. You can compare what you think is right with what they do and put the two together, that is what we were taught.
“We must not engage in self-destruct, although some social media pundits put it that Olanipekun hits the judiciary, I never did. We must stop pushing the judiciary to the Golgotha.
“You must not kill the judiciary, I pity and sympathize with them and even me as a senior lawyer, if I have complaints I talked to them. If you have any issue particularly relating to judgments, the scholarly thing to do as a lawyer is not for you to go to television and radio houses and start lambasting the court.
”I will not believe or agree with the notion or impression that justice is being denied in Nigeria, I believe things can be better.
“ I delivered a keynote address at the 70th anniversary of Ibadan NBA and I was pleading with our colleagues at the bar that we must stop attacking the bench and also the bench should stop attacking the bar.
He reiterated the need for a new constitution in the country, noting that, “ our constitution is too pedestrian and the earlier we do something about it, the better for us as a country.”
Olanipekun urged the FUOYE law students not to lose focus in the course of pursuing their career in the profession, assuring them that with determination and hardwork, they would make exploits in the legal practice.
Speaking, the Vice Chancellor of FUOYE, Professor Abayomi Fasina described Olanipekun as an authority in the nation’s legal profession, saying that his contributions cannot be over-emphasized.
The VC said that his appointment as the first professor of practice by the university was necessitated in view of his expertise and to serve as a motivation for students of law from the university.
Fasina said the lecture was more inspiring and educating, calling on the students not to be distracted in their journey to greatness and emulate the hard work exemplified by Olanipekun in his career.
