SEGUN KASALI, SYLVESTER OKORUWA and LANRE ADEWOLE spoke with Lagos lawyer, politician, academic and activist, Muiz Banire, (SAN) probing into his background and why he is what he is today though he grew up in a notorious part of Lagos.
Your link with Mushin seems very deep? Were you born there?
Well, I wasn’t born in Mushin. I was born in Surulere, but brought to Mushin at a very early age. In fact, my parents were already living in Mushin, before I was born in Surulere. So, after my birth, naturally I grew up in Mushin.
So how was Mushin of the 60s and 70s? Has it always been this notorious?
It was, during the WETIE days, the Western Nigeria crisis then. But at a point in time when we were growing up, it was much more stable and to a certain extent, you can even say civilised, but currently it is bedeviled with so many challenges. It is highly regrettable, the place is retrogressing. Beyond, the social problems, are there other issues you also observed while growing up that are yet to be tackled?
When I was growing up, honestly speaking and to a large extent, the only thing that was a major challenge there was that not so many people were going to school and getting educated; but at a point in time, that improved tremendously. Right now, they are still struggling with the same challenges to the best of my knowledge.
How did you survive the environment then? Were you also a bad boy?
At the time I was growing up, there were extremely fewer bad boys in Mushin. We were more or less competing for good. So there was no reason whatsoever to belong to gangs. People like Niyi Akinsiju, Sunday Oyedokun and a lot of us that are today all over the whole place, grew up in that environment, competing academically and even in terms of improving our community. That was our basic occupation during that era.
Have you gone back there to ameliorate the situation?
I must say with all sense of humility that we tried to and I want to say whether anybody likes it or not, I tried my best. But in recent time, due to the inordinate ambition of some people, the place has retrogressed into the hands of thugs.
But you must also have fond memories of growing up there?
Yes. I enjoyed it in those days when I used to ride my bicycle all over the whole place to the extent that on an occasion, I rode all the way from Mushin to Lagos Island and back on errand. No threat from anybody. We used to walk around the whole place.
You partied too, without anyone breaking bottles?
Certainly! I had my wedding in Mushin and interestingly, one of the reigning musicians then, Shina Akanni was the one who entertained us that day and there was no quarrel, no fracas, no threat and there was even absolutely no need for security men to be on ground and we had it successfully.
How welcoming were boys from Island?
It was a free land. Mushin was a free land. We were very receptive and even hospitable to everybody.
So, why Law for a ghetto boy?
Since my primary school days, I used to prefix my name with ‘Chief Justice’ because of my love for Late Chief Justice Fatai Williams. So, that appellation alone was attractive to me. If you saw all my notebooks in primary school, you would see Chief Justice Muiz Adeyemi Banire. That was the way the thing was going and interestingly when it was time to go to the university, the first admission I got was for Economics at the Louisiana State University in America. In fact, my brother paid for the tuition fee, accommodation fee and everything. So I was to go and process my visa. Not quite long, I got another admission to read Law at a University in Nigeria and quite naturally, I wanted to go to the US but my elder brother then said to me, ‘why would you want to go to US to study Economics when you can become a lawyer here?’ Anyways, he eventually convinced me that I should stay and read Law and that was why I ended up studying Law in Nigeria.
So, that was how you eventually studied Law at Unilag…
Yes. I started my Law career at the University of Ilorin but I only spent two years before I returned to University of Lagos. I eventually graduated from the University of Lagos and interestingly I also got my Masters and PhD from University of Lagos.
Did you eventually come in contact with Fatai Williams?
I used to listen to news at that age. At nine o’clock, we must listen to news. In fact, in my house that was the only period you must watch TV and the only other occasion was when the soap opera Village Headmaster would be on. (Laughs). In fact, the TV in our house used to have a lock. (Laughs). So that was the only period my father would open it.
As a lecturer, did you come in contact with sex-for-marks scandal?
During my time, it never happened. What we experienced during my time was cultism. In our days, three lecturers used to mark a course. So a girl for example that wanted to compromise a Lecturer would have to compromise the three, apart from the external moderator because the external examiner would still come in to check. So, it was practically impossible.
And cultism?
There is always confusion between ideologies, unionism and cultism, particularly those that belong to the Marxist school. They are always mistaken for cultists whenever they were seen. It was because of their leftist idea. It happened to two of my boys. In fact, the two of them were rusticated. I had to stand for them throughout. They were the best brains in the faculty. I am telling you. Go and ask Ajibola Bashiru who is now the Commissioner for Justice in Osun and Kunle Adegoke who is now a gubernatorial aspirant. They had to go to court.
Who is Banire the father and husband?
In the first instance, let me say with all sense of humility that I want to believe that I am even religious. And to the extent that I am religious, I just must remain gentle, tolerant and accommodating. I don’t have a choice because these are ordained injunctions. So to that extent, you do not have a choice. You must cater not only for your families, but your neighbours and the society at large. That is why I get bothered with a lot of things. I don’t like injustice. For me, I believe that I am a struggling man when it comes to family attention that much I must confess to you. I believe I don’t have sufficient time I would have loved to share with my own family, particularly my children. That I believe is a minus on my part which I am struggling to improve on.
Are there things your wife wished you did better?
Well, maybe in terms of romance. I am not very good at romance. I am very poor at it. In fact, she forced me to imbibe the idea of buying card. (Laughs). I am not used to all those things. My wife would prefer a situation where we will go out together. Maybe because I wasn’t brought up in that tradition, or because of where I grew up. That could be a minus.
Have you always been like that?
I have always been like that.
Is any of your children taking after something you stopped?
Yes. Malik. The third one.
What have you noticed in him?
He seems to, in my view, have tendency or inclination to associate with women. He has the tendency. (Laughs).
What are things misconstrued about you?
For example, people say that he is a tough man. Honestly, I regard myself as a gentle person. The challenge I always have is that I am unable to stomach injustice. So when it comes to injustice I react. If it is against me, I may not bother but I will start avoiding you. But if it’s against others and I tend to notice, I will react.
Did you defend physically too in Mushin?
I wasn’t that strong. I would have wished to, but I wasn’t that strong. (Laughs). They would have beaten the hell out of me. (general laughter).
What is it that brings you joy?
The fact that I am a lawyer is enough joy because with law you can possibly redress anything and that is why on my part, I encourage more and more people to go into the study of Law because at the end of the day you will now discover that each person will know the limit of his own rights. And once you know the limit of your own right, there will be peace in the society. What mostly often happens is that you find people not even knowing where their rights end.
Did you run away from lecturing because of the poor pay?
I didn’t run away. You know, I went into government. By the time I was done, two things happened. I wanted to return even on pro-bono to Unilag and then during our second term, it was the view of the University that we could not stay out beyond eight years. So by all means we must resign. I disagree with that position badly because I felt that you had the best of hands with people that have tasted town and back to academics. Those are the best hands you can ever have.
Is your professorial dream still alive?
Maybe. Honestly, I don’t know. I am even confused. I just enjoy lecturing that much I can tell you. It makes me happy. That is why there is hardly any month I don’t deliver a lecture all over Nigeria. I just enjoy it.
As a successful man, do ladies trouble you most successful men?
Work has not allowed me. I believe that every man has tendency to be promiscuous. But somewhere along the line, I just discovered that God in His infinite mercies decided to always saddle me with so much that the time to even do it is a challenge.
As a Muslim, instead of being promiscuous, you can even marry more wives…?
Well, that is debatable. My own understanding of the Quran is that you cannot do so because of the conditionalities attach to it.
If you had not been a lawyer, what would you have become?
I would have preferred to be a Civil Engineer, if I had been good in Maths.
What talent do you exhibit easily?
Administration. I believe that God endowed me with that prowess. I believe anything is easily resolvable. It is just a matter of putting this, this and that. Just recently I was complaining to our Chief Judge about the exhibits all over the court. I said while I was commissioner for special duty, I did introduce a scheme where we moved all those exhibits away from court premises to somewhere we stacked them in the warehouse and properly accounted for. Anywhere I see anything wrong, mine is to quickly find a solution to resolve it.
There should be a social side of you?
What I enjoy doing mainly which you might call social is maybe hanging out with my friends and my own type of hanging out is different from the general type of hanging out. It is for us to sit down engage in discussions. That is what I enjoy doing most; discussing anything from religion to governance, educational issue, transportation. Any issue whatsoever.
How do you relax?
I don’t have flair for social things. My own relaxation is to read, read and read. I love acquiring knowledge. If you go to my library upstairs, I am sure that there will be close to two thousand books that I haven’t read in my life and I still must read them in my lifetime before I die. That is what I enjoy doing.
The kids and their mum must be grumbling…
Well, I have been trying to encourage them to toe the same line. Knowledge is power.
You don’t have any favorite football club?
I have by way of solidarity. (laughs). Because my children are Chelsea fans, I always tell people I am a Chelsea fan. Ask me anything about them, I don’t know.
Your favourite sport?
When I was in School, I used to play football. Outside that one, none. At a point in time early 1999 and 2000, I used to play Badminton. But not anymore, because I don’t have spare time again.
Most challenging moment so far?
Ahh! The challenging moment is betrayal. When I see people betraying me, it pains me a lot because normally, I usually have trust in people. When they betray me, I feel really, really bad about it but I take solace in God and usually say okay maybe God actually wanted me to know the nature of these characters. So I just take solace and move on again but it is the only situation that is really challenging for me.