Port Harcourt-based legal practitioner, Chief F. J. Abigo, was called to the Nigerian Bar in July 1979. He was elected into the Rivers State House of Assembly – an experience truncated by the Buhari coup of 1983 – and the House of Representatives in 1992 – also toppled by the late General Sani Abacha in 1993. In this interview by SAM NWAOKO, he speaks on why he rejected appointment as a judge and sundry issues. Excerpts:
When you look back at when you were in the House of Assembly and the National Assembly, what are some of the remarkable changes you can refer to in lawmaking and sundry government business?
There were a lot. Though my stay in the House of Assembly was very brief, we functioned as lawmakers. We were able to control the executive and we allowed the executive run its course provided it did not disturb other arms of government. The judiciary at that time was quite independent and the legislature was also independent. I enjoyed that period.
Would you say the same thing of the National Assembly today?
As of the time we got to the National Assembly matters were just starting after all the rigmarole of Babangida. However, the independence of all the arms of government was still there but it was too brief for any person to say he enjoyed it. It was too brief. Though it was a military regime, with due respect, Babangida didn’t impose himself on us. He made certain requests and he gave the option of accept or reject, notwithstanding that it was a military regime.
You are noted for rejecting an appointment to the Bench based on your personal principles. It was said you didn’t like how judges were treated and that this might compromise your principles. What really happened sir?
In the first place, I didn’t see the society as wanting justice, in a sense. Although I was very young but I saw the society as a place where people always had a feeling that they could have their way if they had the money and I was not prepared to be in that type of society. I preferred being a private legal practitioner where I can do whatever I want to do within the law.
Was it state or federal judiciary?
It would have been in the state. And the system then was not like what we are having now. In the system then they watch you; your character, your practice and they would invite you; come we want to give you such a position. If you accepted, you would be appointed. There wasn’t this poodle of Judicial Service Commission calling you for interview then sending your name here and there. That was not the system. Sometimes, you would say give me some days to think or a number of hours to think. For me it was never so difficult because if I don’t want something, there and then I can tell you I don’t need it. Thank you.
So, what are those things you see that are strange to you in the system?
We have no government today in Nigeria. We have no government because when you talk of government, government should be able to guarantee safety of individuals. As at that time you could travel to anywhere in Nigeria without fear of anything along the road. If you wanted to go by air, you could go. If you wanted to go by road, you could because government is there and it was in charge.
What do you think is the cause of this degeneration in governance and other things you are talking about?
A friend and I were discussing the times and he said that the times have always been like this. No good time, no bad time and I said I disagree. A situation where a human being innocently travelling is kidnapped on the road, and held in the bush for as long as they want, so where is the safety of the human being? The Nigerian situation is very difficult to understand. As we are talking, I believe you are aware that some Nigerians were kidnapped while on a train journey from Abuja to Kaduna and a number of persons including one of my course mates in the Law School who is from Kanduna State, is among those who were kidnapped. They are yet to be released. Where are they? So, where is the government? I know that I had driven from Abuja to Kaduna and back to Abuja before. I had no fear of anything. I have a course mate of mine from Kaduna State who is based in Jos. He said you dare not put your vehicle on the road to drive from Kaduna to Abuja, that you will be committing suicide.
Let me take you back to your rejection of becoming a judge in the old Rivers State, what vivid examples can you cite as reasons for that decision even as a young lawyer then? Secondly, what year was this sir?
I will only mention period, not year. I worked in Shell Petroleum from where I went to the university. I had thought that I could make my own contributions to society based on my experience of administration as at that time in Shell. I was a field person, a lot of the riverine flow stations (they called it Slump Operations then) were opened by me. Thereafter, I became a coordinator in Shell production, drilling and engineering departments. My duty in the production department was the siting of new wells to see whether they were commercially viable or not. And I was given free hand to do my duties. No interference. The company relied then on my report to put a well on stream or not. If I said the well was not commercially viable and that report was coming right from the field, they did not see any need to stay in the administrative office and doubt. They gave me a free hand to do my duties before I left. There, I saw the independence and dignity of labour.
So, when I came out of the Law School, I was on national service and I followed a politician to a caucus political meeting during the Melford Okilo administration. Their discussion centred on the idea of setting up a gas turbine to supply electricity to Rivers State. They had the view that if they had a gas turbine to supply electricity to Rivers State that would be the end of power failure in the state. I sought their permission to contribute to their discussion and I was permitted. I explained to them why they would not be able to stop power failure. They were shocked. After that they came to another topic: the land use decree. I sought their permission again to speak. Then one of them asked me a question: “When you spoke about electricity we thought you were a petroleum engineer, now you are talking about decree and you’re talking like a lawyer. Exactly what are you?” I explained to them that I worked in Shell and that I knew everything about oil production from the ground to the surface and that I spoke from practical experience, not academics. By then too, I had completed my course in the Law School, called to Bar and I was serving in the then Anambra State with Enugu as the capital. I was serving in the in senatorial chambers as a youth corper. They said one day they would need me in government and it didn’t take long, I got a letter from government inviting me to the Government House. I got to Government House and after a brief interview, they sent me to go and reorganise the Rivers State Scholarship Directorate which they felt was in shambles. I went there and started working the way I thought things should be done. Instruction to me was to report directly to the Governor. I was not under the commissioner. And I tried my best and the thing took shape. My first embarrassment, however, was my encounter with members of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
What did the Rivers Assembly lawmakers do that you found embarrassing?
They came after the close of forms to say they wanted scholarship forms for their children. But I told them that we advertised how forms could be collected and that we sent these forms to the ministries and to the offices of all the political parties, no discrimination. We also sent the forms to the embassies outside Nigeria; and there was a time limit. That time had expired and we were collecting the forms back. That was when the members of Rivers State House of Assembly came to collect forms. At the scholarship board there was a director, there was a deputy director, I was the secretary. The deputy director sent me a note that the people who are coming from the Rivers State House of Assembly should be given forms. I told him no, that we had closed as we advertised and that this affected every person. Before I knew it, these gentlemen came to my office and said they were members of the House of Assembly, that they must collect forms. I repeated my statement to them about the advertisement and closing date for the collection of forms. However, I advised that as members of the House of Assembly, they could move a motion for extension if they felt that time was short so that everyone else could also have access to the forms. One of them retorted that ‘we will move a motion that you should be removed’. I said if they say I should go I would go, it’s not my personal office. The correct thing should be done. If I had to give them forms, what of those children whose fathers were not members of the House of Assembly? That was the beginning of my experience of the society.
They went back to the Assembly and alleged that they came and I told them that there were not forms while I was smuggling forms and passing to outsiders. On the strength of that allegation, I was immediately invited to the House of Assembly. Incidentally I work under the governor and he was not at home, I wrote them a letter explaining that. I said as soon as the governor comes and approves my appearance, I would appear. The governor came and said I should go and I went. I was shocked when some of them were seen to be openly trying to put their children there. They referred my matter to a committee. At the committee, they asked me ‘on what grade level are you?’ I replied ‘I do not know what you call grade level. I am a youth Corper and I was invited to be here. They said in that case I was evading the youth corps service. I said no, that when my letter of appointment came, I took it to our Director, Col Obasa, in Lagos. Col Obasa directed the Anambra State NYSC to post me to Rivers State, with specific instructions to post me to Government House, where I was given the assignment. I told them that I collect my monthly allowance of N180 from the NYSC secretariat and that I do not know what ‘grade level’ meant. I tendered letters from the national director and from the state director and all authorising my NYSC posting. A member of the committee still said those who brought the matter should have reported that I evaded Youth Corps service! Can you see that? That was when I said it is extremely difficult to serve this our society in an honest way. They all saw it that I did not evade NYSC service. I stayed there till I completed my youth service. I was in charge of pay, I signed the vouchers as the secretary, there was no indictment. My salary there would have been N1,000 per month as at that time, but I did not touch it because I had not been discharged from NYSC service. Instead I was going to the NYSC secretariat for my allowance. After I completed my youth service, I started taking the salary for a short while. They wanted to reassign me to another place but the Assembly will not allow them. So, I said allow me go on leave and as I proceeded on leave a civil servant was appointed to fill the vacuum. So, I went to legal practice. They called me back at the Government House and said I was not supposed to go to legal practice. But I told them I was not a civil servant, and that I was a political appointee. When I went on leave you appointed someone else to the position, it means an implied termination of appointment. That was my experience in that place. Comparing that to my experience in Shell, I never thought of serving through political appointment.
So, these interference, disruptions and coercion from numerous quarters made you to reject an appointment as a judge?
Yes, because I did not believe that they would allow me function there.
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