I WILL NOT BE INTIMIDATED INTO SENDING INNOCENT PERSONS TO JAIL
— Justice Moses Oyemade
I
“[B]y October 1965, it was not only election rigging that was effacing democracy in Nigeria. Political leaders had long been chipping away at fundamental freedoms and checks and balances. The elimination of the Judicial Service Commission in 1963 and the amendment of the Newspaper Act in 1964 were significant steps in this erosion. Political pressure was building upon the judiciary again, especially in the [Western Region]. One [of the judges] who steadfastly resisted was Justice [Moses] Oyemade, who angrily rejected an attempt at political pressure with the [following] declaration” (Diamond, 1988):
II
“‘I will not allow myself to be intimidated into sending innocent persons to jail. Even if this means losing my job [as a judge], I am still sure of leading a decent life. The only thing we have now in this country is the judiciary. We have seen politicians changing from one policy to another and one party to another. But the only protection the ordinary people have against these inconsistencies is a fearless and upright judiciary.’” (Justice Moses Oyemade, quoted in Diamond, 1988)
II
“In 1973, [Justice Moses Oyemade] as Chief Justice invited me to accompany him to Agodi Prisons to exercise one of his statutory powers of gaol delivery. After releasing some prisoners, his attention was called to six men who were seated in the front of their cell who had requested the prison authorities for an opportunity to speak to the Chief Justice. They told the Chief Justice that they were detained there in 1966, on the instruction of the Sardauna of Sokoto, because of their faith as Lutheran Church leaders in present day Gongola State. There were no documents to support their detention. The Sardauna had died in 1966, and the prison authorities did not know what to do. I took down their particulars and sought permission from the Chief Justice to prepare their release order. This was later signed by the Chief Justice in chambers. The order was served on the prison authorities by the bailiff with me in attendance. The men regained their freedom immediately.” (retired Justice Adewale Thompson, 1991)
IV
“Early in my legal practice, I came to know the Hon. Justice [Moses] Oyemade as a judge of the High Court of the then Western Region of Nigeria. The judge was a staunch believer in the observance of the ethics and tradition of the learned profession. He was always impeccably dressed in his black and white court attire and judicial robes. He sat punctually at 9. 00 a.m. and was ‘dominus litis’ in his court-room and ensured that the proceedings were conducted in an orderly manner while occasionally injecting a touch of humour into the proceedings in order to diffuse some of the tension often generated in the court-room due to our adversarial system of court adjudication. His Lordship was respected by lawyers and he himself reciprocated the gesture by being courteous to members of the Bar from whence he was elevated to the High Court Bench.” (Chief Folake Solanke, SAN)
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Justice Moses Olatunji Oyemade (1916-1996, former Chief Justice of Western Nigeria)
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SOURCES
⁃ Larry Diamond, ‘Class, Ethnicity and Democracy in Nigeria (London: Macmillan Press, 1988) p. 284
⁃ Adewale Thompson, ‘Reminiscences at the Bar’ (Bookcraft, Ibadan, 1991) p. 67
⁃ Folake Solanke, ‘The Recollections of a SAN’ in ‘Chief Justice Moses Oyemade: A Legacy of Probity’ (Ibadan: Afrique Biographical Services, 2005) p. 9.
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