Many people in prison have no business being there – Hassan Liman

Would you say a lawyer is in a money spinning venture?I look at the practice of law not as a profit-making venture, in the sense that if one is in legal practice for the purpose of becoming rich or wealthy, especially those of us that are into serious litigation, the question of becoming a multi-millionaire […]

Would you say a lawyer is in a money spinning venture?
I look at the practice of law not as a profit-making venture, in the sense that if one is in legal practice for the purpose of becoming rich or wealthy, especially those of us that are into serious litigation, the question of becoming a multi-millionaire should be ruled out. I see legal practice as a means by which one should serve humanity because you are rendering service to an individual who has no skill and who does not know how to help himself. From the rich to the middle class to the ordinary person who is in problem and in dire need of your service and by the time you work and he gets justice from our court through your legal assistance, through your legal talent, I derive joy seeing my client celebrating and not in the money.
Whenever I win a case, especially criminal matters where I get innocent people released from incarceration, you will see their happiness. It is what money cannot buy.
 Why do you engage in pro bono?
Human beings have not been created equal. God has created each of us as a being but has endowed some over and above others. Some have been made rich and some poor; some have been given the talent so you discover that if you do legal practice for the purpose of making money only and serve only those that have money, then the ordinary people with no means of sustenance will be wallowing in detention and have their rights trampled upon.
As a legal practitioner, especially when I was privileged between 2002 and 2005 to be appointed by the federal government to serve as a board member of the Legal Aid Council of Nigeria (LACN), I had the opportunity to travel with other members of council to almost all the prisons in this country. There are a lot of people that have no business being in prison. Some have been incarcerated innocently; the basic work of the LACN is to serve those that have no means of sustenance.
I drew my inspiration from the work I did with the LACN and thereafter I continued because I saw a lot of oppressed people who have no means of survival. It’s not only doing the cases for them but you will even find some accused persons and convicts that have been fined just N5,000 and they do not have the N5,000 to pay the fine and get out of prison. We helped and paid for them in our quest for legal service delivery.
 Apart from pro bono and legal services, why do you also award scholarships?
I grew up to see the two sides of life. When I became a SAN in 2001 I registered Liman Foundation for Humanitarian Services and Legal Assistance, we do provide scholarship and assist people that cannot even feed themselves. There are people that do not know where the next meal is coming from. Where we can assist such people to get job through the foundation we assist. That is what propelled me. Though God has created us equal but in terms of resources we are not equal. For those of us that have it, I see what God has given me as wealth that I have to hold in trust for myself and those that do not have. It’s not meant for me only.
 What challenges are you facing in the scholarship scheme?
The challenge of misrepresentation is the major challenge. Even though I started from my local community, my local government and in my state, right now I have not moved beyond my LG and my State of Nasarawa but we still have some challenges especially when we provide scholarships for those in primary and secondary schools. For instance, we ask for the data of indigent students but we have a situation whereby the principals of those schools give us names of those who ought not to be on the scheme. But this does not discourage us.
 We have cases of collapsed buildings what is the punishment for owners of these buildings?
Building regulations are there and if any person build against building regulations that person has to be brought to book and dealt with. I am happy with the recent case in Lagos over the Synagogue worship centre collapse which Governor Fashola SAN has directed investigation. We are hopeful that at the end of the day if the owner is found culpable, he should be prosecuted. We should send signal to the rest of the country.
 Should members of the National Assembly also be awarded SAN?
With the greatest respect, no. How is one appointed SAN? SAN is someone that has excelled in the practice of his profession; has done sufficient number of cases at the High Court, Court Appeal and the Supreme Court and; has shown leadership at the bar. That is the meaning of SAN. Those in the academia are awarded because they have excelled in their contribution to legal learning by the jurisprudence of the books they have written to contribute to legal development.
But for members of parliament, who are lawyers that have decided to take to the vocation of being politicians at the NASS and the state assemblies, they cannot be awarded because if you look at the history of appointment of SAN we got it from the UK and there is precedent for everything. I have not come across any case where a member of the House of Lords or Commons is appointed a QC, so I do not think that it is right to introduce that in Nigeria.
 Which is the most intricate case you have handled so far?
I have handled many intricate cases in the 27 years of my legal practice but I feel excited that I was able to get over 300 indigent people who had no means of getting legal representations released. In fact we were able to get some of them out without filing legal processes but for about 109 of them we had to go the whole hog – from the magistrate court to the High Court and to the Court of Appeal – before they were released. It was the case of Shagari Versus COP and 108 others. It was reported in the Nigerian Weekly Law Report where about 300 individuals were accused of killing the then late Commissioner for Women Affairs in Nasarawa State. Because of the threat of the government of the day, a particular ethnic group was accused of killing that commissioner and so any member of that ethnic group that comes close to the case was arrested and made a suspect. I took the case as a pro bono case and we were able to get them out of detention. As I speak 99 per cent of those that were arrested when the legal advice came out, had no case to answer, so you can see.
Do you have any appeal to make?
While I appreciate the federal government for finding me worthy for conferring national honour on me, as a concerned citizen my heart bleeds at the continuous crisis not only in the North East but everywhere there is unrest. I appreciate the effort of the government in ensuring that peace returns but I will urge it to do more, especially in ensuring that peace is fully restored in our country and anyone that has been kidnapped, especially the Chibok girls and other victims of kidnap are released. I appeal to the federal government to ensure they are released and those fermenting trouble are brought to book, because the essence of law and punishment is to serve as deterrent and unless government is able to always bring perpetuators of heinous crimes to book, then these unfortunate events will re-occur again and again.