AGF Adoke's speech at Justice Ogebe's valedictory ceremony

ADDRESS BY THE HONOURABLE ATTORNEY-GENERAL OF THE FEDERATION AND MINISTER OF JUSTICE, MR. MOHAMMED BELLO ADOKE,SAN AT THE VALEDICTORY CEREMONY TO MARK THE RETIREMENT OF HON. JUSTICE JAMES OGENYI OGEBE, JSC AT THE SUPREME COURT COMPLEX, ABUJA ON THURSDAY, 15 TH APRIL, 2010.

My Lords, the President of the Court of Appeal, Hon. Justice Ayo Isa Salami, and all the Honourable Justices of the Court of Appeal,

My Lords, the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court and all the Honourable Justices of the Federal High Court,

My Lords, the Chief Judges of the States and all the Honourable Justices of the State High Courts and other Superior Courts of Record here gathered,

The President and Members of the National Executive Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association,

I am honoured by your gracious invitation to me to deliver this address today at the Valedictory Session of the Supreme Court of Nigeria in honour of an illustrious son of Nigeria, a distinguished Jurist, and a man of honour and integrity, the Hon. Justice James Ogenyi Ogebe, JSC.

My Lord, I congratulate you on this momentous occasion in your life. You have served our country well and to the best of your abilities. In recognition of your hardwork, perseverance, team spirit and intellect, you attained a height in your professional career which is reserved by the Almighty for only a few people in every generation. As grateful individuals and institutions, we have gathered here today to tell your story once more. We have assembled, not because it has become customary to do so, but due to our desire to openly recognize and appreciate your contribution to our lives and institutions while you were in service.

It is indeed gratifying to note that our Learned Lordship is taking his leave from the Nigerian Judiciary at a most auspicious threshold in our evolution as a nation towards the status of a matured and sustainable democracy. Since the return of our country to democratic governance on May 29, 2007, we have witnessed the increasing and assertive contributions of the Judicial arm of Government to the interpretation and clarification of various provisions in the 1999 Constitution, the defence of democratic freedoms and rights, the sustenance of individual liberties and the rule of law, and the progressive guidance of our electoral system to a level where it is now based on a uniquely Nigerian Jurisprudence, to the acclaim of the Nigerian society. I congratulate His Lordship for serving on the Bench at such a glorious period of its history.

It is customary at occasions like this to trace the life history of our honourees. My Lords, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, we do this not because these histories are not already in the public domain, but because it is necessary to demonstrate that the virtues of hardwork, perseverance and willingness to make sacrifices are still legitimate currency.

In similar fashion, I have gone through the Curriculum Vitae of Hon. Justice James Ogebe and I am convinced that his life history should be a source of inspiration to several of us in this hall and outside it, and I particularly wish to enjoin it to the younger members of our great profession who desperately desire heroes and role models within the profession.

He was born on 22 nd March, 1940 and went through the initial discipline of primary school education in Igumale and Katsina-Ala in present day Benue State between 1946 and 1955. Thereafter, the quest for secondary education took him further to the famous Government College, Keffi and thereafter to the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria between 1963 and 1967. The foundation gained through this course motivated him to pursue the professional course at the Nigerian Law School pursuant to which he was called to the Nigerian Bar on 28th June, 1968.

He joined the Civil Service as a Pupil State Counsel in the Ministry of Justice of the former Benue-Plateau State on 17 th July, 1968 and thus began the long and steady progression through the ranks until he became the Acting Director of Public Prosecutions in 1971. He eventually transferred to the Judicial arm of Government in April 1974 and held several positions, including the position of Acting Chief Judge of Benue State in September, 1987. On October 31, 1991, he was further elevated in the judicial hierarchy when he was appointed a Justice of the Court of Appeal, and sworn in on 3 rd December, 1991 to that higher Bench. He served meritoriously in several Divisions of the Court of Appeal and presided over, or sat on several landmark matters before his eventual elevation to the Supreme Court in 2008.

It was in the capacity of a Judge at the various levels at which he served that the Hon. Justice Ogebe discovered and displayed his true calling. While the opportunity offered by this occasion may not be adequate to reflect on the entire gamut of his contributions to our jurisprudence, it suffices to say that his contributions to the development of our judicial system will remain indelible in the annals of history.

As a Judge, his decisions demonstrated peculiar clarity and preciseness of thought, as well as a capacity to use the law as an instrument to do substantial justice rather than as a technical impediment against the rights of the aggrieved. In particular, we cannot forget his abiding interest in the use of the judicial system to foster social stability and development.

A review of some of the decisions he participated in while on the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court benches demonstrated his wide-ranging knowledge of the law and the ease with which he expressed his opinions in diverse areas of judicial disputes. For instance, in his leading judgment in USANG V. HANSEATIC INT. LTD (2009) II NWLR, at pp. 529-530, he expounded the law on the principles governing the award of damages for personal injury. Furthermore, in another Leading Judgment in FAJEMIROKUN V. COMMERCIAL BANK (CREDIT LYONNAIS) NIG. LTD (2009) 5 NWLR 1135, he eruditely expounded the law on the meaning and classification of fundamental rights, culpability for the issuance of dud cheques, and the duty on citizens to report the commission of crimes to the Police.

It was in the sphere of political litigation that Hon. Justice Ogebe also displayed his courageous qualities as a Judge as demonstrated by his decisions ABUBAKAR V. YAR’ADUA (2008) 4 NWLR 538 and OJUKWU V.YAR’ADUA (2008) 4 NWLR 1078 where he expressed his opinions in a forthright and unambiguous manner and particularly, dwelt on the attitude of a court to technicalities in a presidential Election Petition.

It is perhaps accurate to refer to the illuminating Leading Judgment of Ogebe, JCA (as he then was) in the celebrated case of ADELEKE V. OYO STATE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY (2006) 16 NWLR (Pt.1006), 608 as one of his most significant contributions to the evolution of the law in Nigeria. In that case, he made remarkable pronouncements on the conditions precedent to the application of Section 108(10) of the 1999 Constitution ousting the jurisdiction of the court to inquire into impeachment proceedings, proper conduct and venue of legislative sittings of a State House of Assembly, the duty on the court to prevent infringement of the Constitution and the locus standi of a Speaker of a State House of Assembly to challenge the process of the removal of a Governor or Deputy Governor.

“A court of law cannot close its eyes to the infringement of the Constitution. It is the primary custodian of the Constitution and if any arm of the government including the court itself acts unconstitutionally, the court has inherent power under Section 6(6) of the 1999 Constitution to intervene.”

As the National Assembly is now undertaking the review and amendment of the 1999 Constitution, it has become necessary for us to use the opportunity of this Valedictory Session to raise the issue of the appropriate retirement age for our Judges. It has become obvious in the light of our contemporary experience and the tireless post-retirement activities of several of our otherwise retired Justices of the appellate courts, that the time has come for us as a nation to take a second look at the present Constitutional provisions relating to the retirement age of our Judges who serve on the appellate courts.

It is my recommendation that the time has come for us to consider an upward review of the retirement age for this category of Judges from the present 70 years to a regime where the said 70 years should be an optional retirement age while 75 years becomes the mandatory age.

I am certain that if we can adopt such a regime, we will get the most out of our Judges at appellate level due to the fearlessness, candour and courage which comes with old age and which are the attributes that our Judiciary needs to constantly exhibit.

I must not conclude this address without commending My Lord on his promotion of discipline within the Legal profession throughout his years on the Bench. He continuously advocated that legal practitioners, whether at the Bar or on the Bench, should hold themselves up by the highest moral standards possible, in order to earn the trust of the public and preserve the integrity of our profession.

As Lawyers, we are happy to observe that we are today blessed with a strong and virile Judiciary supported by robust legal institutions. In this atmosphere, we should all continue to push for the enthronement of the Rule of Law in all aspects of the polity. Our Courts have proven time and again that they are equal to the task of resolving all constitutional and legal challenges in an impartial, courageous and effective manner. I urge that when they do their duty in this manner, we should all be guided by the decisions of the courts and avoid the present situation where judicial decisions and Judges themselves are subjected to undue criticisms and vilification on the pages of newspapers and other public fora.

My Lord, I congratulate you once more. Nigeria will surely miss you. It is our prayer that the Almighty God will bless you with long life, good health and a cheerful disposition throughout the rest of your life.

It is my hope that you will now find the time to comprehensively document your experiences in a biography for the benefit of the coming generations and that you will continue to avail our country and the legal profession of your wise counsel and services in the days to come.

My Lords, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen , I thank you all for your attention. May God bless you all.