Apo killings: Don’t malign security agents – Obla

There are controversies trailing the Apo killing, what is your take?It is wrong for you to kill unlawfully but it is also wrong for people to assume that state institutions would callously just go out and kill people. If we have issues with the Apo killings, all we need to do is have the matter […]

There are controversies trailing the Apo killing, what is your take?
It is wrong for you to kill unlawfully but it is also wrong for people to assume that state institutions would callously just go out and kill people. If we have issues with the Apo killings, all we need to do is have the matter investigated but instead of asking for investigation people conclude that the killing was unlawful. We need to be careful, a lot of security agents have lost their lives as a result of the insurgence in the country. If we continue to denigrate or malign them, there will be nobody left to do that job. We have to be extremely careful. There are strategic decisions we need to take with a lot of care. I want to give the benefit of the doubt that the SSS and the Army cannot go on a joint operation and behave irresponsibly. If there was a matter of failure of intelligence, it should be left for investigation but we must be extremely careful. This is different from the Apo 6.
Today Nigeria is 53, how do you assess the nation’s judicial system at 53?
The nation’s judicial system is not different from the judiciary. The country gets what it deserves; the nation’s judiciary is not an abstract. If you want good leaders you get good leaders, if you want good judiciary you get good judiciary, if you want a good economy you get a good economy. One aspect cannot be an island unto itself. The judges and the judiciary have tried, there is a lot more we can do just like there is a lot more we can do to the economy and politics so also there is a lot more we can do to the judiciary.
Do you support amnesty for Boko Haram?
Amnesty is not for reckless and unmindful killing of innocent persons. Amnesty is attributable to nationalistic conduct. Even renegade kidnappers have started asking for amnesty, the next thing is that people who commit rape would start asking for amnesty. Criminal conduct that should not be acceptable in any civilised society should not qualify for amnesty.
Do we want those involved in what happened in Benishiek to benefit from amnesty? If leaders from the north are canvassing that, I  am a Christian minority from the North, l don’t support it, people must pay the price for their conduct.  
There has been a blame game between judges and lawyers over the delay in judicial process. Who is to  be blamed for the delay and what is the way out?
There are times judges don’t come on time and there are times lawyers are also late to court, so it is dual. Lawyers need to be up and doing because they owe it a responsibility to the institution to administer justice, to be diligent in handling and prosecuting matters which they have taken to court or that they have been retained to handle in court. Judges also have an obligation to be up and doing in accordance with what the CJN has said severally. Courts sits at 9:00 am, the Supreme Court does not sit at one minute past nine, it is not possible. The Supreme Court sits at 9:00 am dot. That is the highest court, the least justice of the Supreme Court, if he does not have experience, has no less than 25 to 30 years experience.  So if with all these number of years of experience they can still sit timorously, there is no excuse why other judges cannot sit timorously at 9.00 a.m.
Go to the judiciary in Benue State, if you go there 10 minutes past 9.00 and if your matter is called, they would have struck out your matter because a lot of those judges sit timorously, so, it is an individual issue. You cannot blame the entire judiciary, most of the judges are hard working but no matter how good a society is there would still be one or two that would raise credibility issues.
You  said sometimes ago in an interview that you never went through any lawyer for pupilage, do you still say so?
When l said that l never went through any pupilage, l meant that l never worked under anybody. I was called to the Bar in 1984, l did my NYSC with Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) in Abuja 1984 /85. l set up Obla and Co in 1985, obviously there is nowhere in my life that l worked under any law firm. The only pupilage l did was my law office attachment when l was in the law school and l did it with the man l regard as my mentor up till date JB Majiyagbe SAN in Kano, who ended up being the first black man to have headed the Rotary International – a fantastic lawyer and the only SAN in Kano in those days.