How I Spent My NYSC Allowance To Renovate My Father’s House —Adesina SAN

Mr. Julius Oladele Adesina, a Senior Advocate Of Nigeria (SAN),
is the principal partner at Dele Adesina & Co., a law firm
established in July 1992. In this interview, he told SEGUN
KASALI of his experiences at the bar for over 35 years,
among other things.

AS a lawyer, you must have come from a privileged
background.

No. In fact, my growing up was nothing spectacular, but then it
wasn’t all bread and butter. I grew up as a village boy in Ilawe-
Ekiti, Ekiti State. I attended primary school and secondary school
in the same town where I was born, but God gave me a father and a
mother who believed in education. My mother was always ready to
sell anything to raise money for education, just as my father would
borrow from anybody to pay my fees, even though I didn’t pay school
fees in primary school. They are both late now. From there, I went
to the University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU). We
started paying in secondary school and like a typical boy from a
family that lived on subsistence farming, there was little to play
with. So, most times, the resources both of them were able to put
together was never enough to pay the fees. My mother would approach
any of her colleagues during their age-group meetings and took
loan, which she added to whatever my father had and we used it to
pay my fees. But before I completed secondary school, God
intervened as I was given the Western Nigeria Scholarship.

While in primary school, did you think for once that you
would become a lawyer later in life?

Yes. Towards the end of my primary school, I used to tell myself
that I didn’t know what else I would become if not a lawyer because
I never thought of any other profession except Law. I used to
follow my father to Ado-Ekiti when I had the opportunity. He had a
younger brother who came from Ghana. That brother had a little
issue and you know in extended families, when your brother has a
problem, the entire family sees it as their problem. My father had
to follow him to the court in Ado. I accompanied my father as a
young boy. When I got to the premises, they told me it was a court.
I saw lots of lawyers and also saw the enthusiasm, the excitement
on their faces when the proceedings were going on. I came out and I
saw big cars in the parking lot of the court and I was told that
the cars belonged to most of the lawyers. I was so fascinated with
their wigs and gowns because until then, the only gowns I knew
about were those worn by the choir members. I was a member of the
choir of Anglican Church in my hometown. All of these attracted me
and I told my father that one day, I would own cars like those
lawyers and would defend people like they did. From that day, I
never thought of any other profession.

Did you also go to farm with your
parents?

Anytime we were on holidays, we had no business staying at home
when our father was at the farm. In fact, I remembered very well
that when we were in secondary school, we used to do what was
called aaro, where you have two, three, four or five others coming
together to go to each other’s father’s farms. If it was my turn,
all of them would follow me to the farm. We used to clear the cocoa
farm and helped in laying heaps for the planting of yam and all
that. We usually spent one or two days on my own father’s farm and
the following day, we would go to another friend’s father’s farm.
By so doing, we were able to effectively help our parents.

Was there any shocking experience while in
the farm?

There was a particular incident when we were on the cocoa farm
and, out of curiosity, I saw a heap of leaves on a branch of a
cocoa tree. I didn’t bother to find a stick to rustle the leaves. I
tried to climb, used my cutlass to cut through the leaves, hoping
that it was a rat that was there, but what I saw was a snake. I
threw the cutlass away, jumped down in another direction far away
from the cutlass, while my father kept shouting at me, asking me
what had happened? I was just shouting: snake, snake, snake. He
asked me the direction it went and I pointed it to him. My father
threw a stick in the direction so that it could escape. I was
usually a backbencher when it came to hunting because of the fear
of something like my nasty experience, but I had friends who could
chase a snake to kill it.

Memorable events during your school days?

It was when we left Ife for Lagos to protest over loss of
something at the Central Bank at that time at the National
Assembly, which was at that time at the Tafawa Balewa Square. What
made it interesting for me was my being part of the demonstration
team. To make matters worse, the buses we seized from the
maintenance works department were driven by students from Ife to
Lagos and back.

How did you meet your wife?

I met her in 1981. I was at the Nigerian Law School then. I
chased her from 1981 to 1983 before I finally won her over. I left
Lagos for Ekiti for the church harvest. I was sitting with a
friend, Tunde Akindele Alo. Not long after, a lady came and knelt
down. I greeted her, but she responded casually and left the church
almost immediately. I asked my friend who the lady was. The first
thing that fascinated me about her was how she conducted herself.
Anyway, my friend just said; “what’s your business? Even though she
refused to give me her contact that day, she later found out that I
persisted in my efforts at knowing who she was and how desperately
I wanted to meet her. Later, after I returned to Lagos, she gave me
her details. When I got back to Lagos, I went to meet her at Ife. I
had discussions with her. I remember I told her pointedly that I
was not looking for a girlfriend but a wife and gave her my
reasons, but she told me that she was not looking for a
husband.

Was there been any event that happened
in the course of your Law practice that makes you thank
God?

Yes. One day, I was in court for a land matter in Ikeja. During
the course of the proceedings, some of my clients ran into the
court and whispered into my ear that the other side was in a 504
wagon with a herbalist chanting incantations. He was worried. I
asked him if I should take an adjournment. He said no, that he only
wanted to tell me what was going on outside the court and I said
okay, thank you very much. I continued with what I was doing as if
nothing happened and by the time we finished in court, I came out
and I told them, it is not that I didn’t hear what you said,
neither that they didn’t exist because the Bible says there are
principalities and powers, but thank God who causes us to triumph
over all principalities and power. I believed that statement made
an impact on the person who ran inside. By the time we finished
that case and judgment was rendered, it was in favour of my client.
A witness in the case was so impressed that he walked up to me,
asked me what he could do for me because of the way I handled the
woman’s matter and decided to give me a plot land on which I built
my first house in Lagos.

Any embarrassing moment in the course of your
practice?

That was in 1996. I went to Osogbo to handle a matter, which was
a business that transformed into a criminal action between two
brothers, who were managing a company together. One made away with
the company’s money and the other went to court to get an order to
take it back. I appeared for the person who wanted to court to
return the company’s property. We got an order which they took to
Osun State to execute. My lawyer followed a sheriff and they saw
the other man driving one of the cars that were supposed to be
handed over to the court premises. They followed him to his home
where he finally handed the car over. The deputy sheriff and my
lawyer brought the car to Lagos. As they were driving to court, the
man was also driving to the State Intelligence headquarters in
Osogbo to say that he had been robbed. So, the police came to Lagos
to arrest my junior lawyer, arrested the deputy sheriff and
arrested the man. We went to court again.

I now had to go to Osogbo myself. We were taking the argument
for bail about two or three days to Christmas Day that year and I
told the judge that this was a business arrangement that went sour,
more importantly, between two brothers. Number two, that the man
that ran to Osogbo to make the allegation of robbery knew that
there was no robbery. Three, I said I was aware that there was an
unholy meeting between the complainant and the Attorney- General of
this state and that my fear was that the whole machinery of justice
in Osun State would not collapse in the course of the case. This is
because it was the first case.

I would know where three legal opinions had been rendered. The
Director of Public Prosecution said there was no case to answer,
but the Attorney-General went to him and insisted that they must
change that pronouncement. The man refused and the Attorney-
General wrote another opinion personally to say there was a case to
answer. The Federal Director of Public Prosecution got the matter
transferred to the Federal Ministry of Justice and said there was
no case to answer in another legal opinion. I said by the time we
start the hearing, I would put the Attorney-General in the box to
ask him how many legal advices or opinions he had written before
this one and how many he had written after this one.

By the time this was done, we would know whatever got him to
bend the law the way he was doing. The judge looked at me and was
very angry. He said he had been following my argument all day, but
now, I was making disparaging comments against the Attorney-
General of the state, who was not there to defend himself and would
not hesitate to send me to prison. I said My Lord, to where? To
prison? I said some of us, before we took any matter up, always
made up our mind, ready to sink or swim with the client. I told him
to send me to prison, but before I got there, many lawyers from
Osun State would be waiting there for me. Everywhere was charged.
After about 30 minutes, the court rose to consider its ruling.
Surprisingly, the court came back 4 pm and gave a ruling admitting
the client to bail three days to Christmas Day in 1996.

Culled from tribuneonlineng