The wig and gown, fittingly sown with marked features, are two professional costumes adorned by legal practitioners, whether they are lawyers or judges. The uniform can only be worn either in court or for strict ceremonial purposes as provided by the rules of the ethics of the profession. This regalia indeed, is a mark of identity for the practitioners as ministers in the temple of justice.But in Nigeria, lawmakers have designed the same uniform for Speakers of state Houses of Assembly, that of the House of Representatives and the President of the Senate, even though the occupiers of these offices are not necessarily legal practitioners. In this interview with IBE UWALEKE, the newly appointed chairman of the Body of Benchers, Chief Idowu Sofola (SAN), describes the wearing of the wig and gown by non-legal practitioners functioning as Speakers of various Legislative Houses as unfortunate and unacceptable that should be addressed by relevant authorities. He also speaks on other serious legal issues in this piece. Excerpts:IS it proper for a magistrate to order for the arrest and detention of journalists who are on a lawful assignment of covering a case in her court'This is a difficult question to answer. As far as I am concerned, I do not consider it right for any judicial officer to order an arrest of journalists except for good reason. Just like you cannot imprison any person except for good reason or kill, unless ordered by law. Anything you want to do, it must be justified by law. For you to know whether it is justified by law, you must have the advantage of hearing both sides. At the moment, what we are hearing is from one side. I am sure the authorities are looking into the matter. Very soon they will come out with their findings. I would rather wait to hear both sides.How do you describe the qualification of a team of prosecution lawyers by a judge of a Federal High Court, Lagos, who labeled them as incompetent to prosecute a case against a former bank's chief' Because of this alleged attitude of the prosecution team, the judge discharged the accused bank chief and quashed all the charges brought against him.As unfortunate as this is, one really needs to know the facts as I said earlier on. The fact that he discharged them did not necessarily mean that it had put the end to the case. The court could still ask the parties to come back.But the judge ruled that the parties should not file the case again before him or any judge of the Federal High Court.That will be beyond him. He is not the Chief Judge of the court. Some of the lawyers in this particular case I reckon with are very good. To say that they are bad, I am surprised to hear that. But I don't know what the judge knows. If it is true that the prosecution was not diligent enough in prosecuting the case, I am very slow in taking sides. I always believe that whatever you do, you must do with the fear of God. Once you condemn a person without hearing that person, you are committing a sin yourself.Years back when I came back from England, I worked with a magistrate, he invited me and wanted me to become a senior magistrate. I gave it a thought, and later turned it down. After some time, a few years later, there was an offer for me to become a High Court judge, I gave it a thought again and turned it down. One of the reasons why I turned down the offer was that supposing some people come to tell lies against a person and I rely on that to condemn the person to death, I won't be able to sleep. I prefer to be a defence lawyer. Our laws say that it is better to allow 99 guilty persons to go scotch-free, than to convict an innocent person. To give ear to these cases, my conscience cannot welcome some of them. I have no magic to know whether you are telling the truth or lies. Sometimes, the lies are manufactured.As the newly appointed chairman of the Body of Benchers, what would you want to accomplish within one year of your tenure'We have identified the need to review our laws in respect of Legal Practitioners Act, Legal Education Act. I must make sure I get these reviews done before I leave office. Also a year ago, my predecessor set up a kind of an advisory body. Regrettably, that committee has not started functioning. I must talk to the chairman of the committee to see how his body can kick off. The disciplinary committee is another body where I will bring some reforms. The committee had quite a number of cases to handle. We are going to increase the number of members of this committee to be able to cope with the number of cases. On this review again, the disciplinary committee must be assisted because it has a lot of cases pending before it. So far, the committee deals with lawyers who run foul of ethics, who are in practice. But we want to expand the disciplinary measures to include lawyers who work in corporate organisations, industries and even in politics. Whatever they do in their place of assignments robs off on the profession. We are also seeking for reforms that will make the Speaker of House of Assembly or National Assembly to be professional lawyers. The wigs and gowns, which all manner of people wear as Speakers of any Assembly, are only meant to be worn by lawyers and judges and no other unqualified persons. The job of Speakership is a lawyer's job. Though it is not part of my duties to legislate against this practice, I am not happy about it.
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