Maikyau’s Trumpet of “Fatherhood” To Judicial Salary Review –At The Risk of Sounding Like A Telltale

BY AYO JOSEPH

When a priest engages in the art of divination for a client who is hard of hearing, the job ethics demands of him to repeat the instructions as often as possible until it settles in the subconscious of the client. Hence, the Yoruba proverb, “kokoko làá rọ́fá adití.” 

Lawyers and non-lawyers alike have in recent times, been inundated with claims and “reclaims” by the President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Mr. Y.C. Maikyau, SAN, of championing the process that birthed the review of salaries of judicial officers.

At no opportunity had he hesitated to sound his trumpets to the high heavens, through addresses, speeches and interviews. For Mr. Maikyau, it is more about protecting what he considers his “proprietary rights” over the ideas that birthed the legislation and presidential assent than any other thing.

As if his baritone voice was not sufficiently audible, a few days ago, lawyers again woke up to emails, one from Mr. Maikyau himself and another from the Association’s publicity secretary on the same subject. Though worded in the manner of an acknowledgment page in one of Agatha Christie’s bestsellers, the email was not pretentious about its aim of shoving it down everyone’s throat, in case it was yet to digest, that it was Maikyau and his team (and not anyone else), who initiated the whole idea of the review of judicial officers’ salaries. Call it an ostentatious assertion of ownership right and you would not be wrong. In the email which was circulated to all lawyers, Mr. Maikyau stated:

“By the grace of God Almighty, and without any intention of sounding immodest, we successfully undertook this task which culminated into the enactment of the Judicial Office Holders (Salaries and Allowances, Etc) Act, 2024, which was a product of constructive engagement with all the arms of Government.”

Just like the phrase “with due respect”, when you hear a man say: “without any intention of sounding immodest”, you are advised to brace yourself for a newly fabricated model of “immodesty.” But is Maikyau actually the “brain-father” of the Judicial Office Holders (Salaries and Allowances, Etc) Act, 2024? I need no preface to pointedly answer this in the negative, as the whole idea far precedes his ascension to the presidency of the NBA. Being one who is far from the scene of leadership in the legal profession, I vividly recall that reports of an ongoing process had been in the news, long before Maikyau became the President of the NBA. By this lead, I was constrained to ask very probing questions from credible sources to augment my commonplace knowledge, and my discoveries clearly align with my answer above. To mimic Maikyau, let me also say “without any intention of sounding like a telltale”, I shall remind everyone of events from the not-too-distant past.

THE BODY OF BENCHERS’ INTERVENTION

The road to the review of remuneration of judicial officers has no doubt been a torturous one, with many harrowing bends and bumpy stretch. Only very few would understand the extent of investments, engagements and brainstorming that had gone into what eventually emerged as the final result in the nature of a legislature. As far back as 2018, under the government of Muhammadu Buhari, there had been a report, proposing a review of judicial salaries and conditions of service. While the report continued to gather dust on the president’s shelf, a rare diatribe emerged from the Justices of the Supreme Court, around June, 2022, with bitter complaints about the condition of service of the court and the nation’s judiciary at large. The first regulatory body in the legal profession to react to this, was the Body of Benchers, then chaired by Mr. Wole Olanipekun who wrote to all the Justices of the Supreme Court, urging them to exercise patience while the Body engages with the relevant stakeholders towards addressing their complaints. Body of Benchers’ sources has it that Olanipekun had set up a Judicial Advisory Committee headed by the former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Mahmud Mohammed, with representatives from the NBA and the Judiciary. The same sources also revealed that the then Chairman of the Body of Benchers engaged the consulting firm of Earnst & Young to do a comparative analysis of salaries and emoluments of judicial officers across the commonwealth countries, with a view to achieving an internationally acceptable scale.

It was in the news that in July, 2022, Olanipekun led other Benchers to Buhari to register their concerns and to “parley” with the then President, towards addressing the issue. It was in furtherance of this engagements that the President directed the Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RAMFC) to begin the process of implementation of the 2018 report, pending the conclusion of the Earnst & Young report commissioned by the then Body of Benchers leadership.

Mr. Mohammed Shehu, the Chairman of RAMFC was reported by the media as saying: “We have received the directive by Mr. President on the salary of judges, and as you are all aware, there has been a big uproar over the years on the salary of judges.”

While the engagements with Buhari and his eventual commitment took place around July, 2022, Maikyau did not become the President of the NBA until 26 August, 2022. At the commissioning of the Body of Benchers Complex on September, 29, 2022, Mr. Buhari acknowledged the assiduous efforts of the Body of Benchers and its leadership, in his address, when he said:

“I am not unaware of the passion and commitment of Chief Olanipekun in championing the cause of the welfare of Judicial Officers in Nigeria, as well as the commitment of the Body of this goal. May I restate my commitment towards this ideal and to reiterate our administration’s willingness to implement the 2018 Report of the Committee on the Review of Judicial Salaries and Conditions of Service. In similar vein, I have been intimated on the engagement of Consultants by the Body, through its Advisory Judicial Committee, to amongst other things, come up with a peer review of the conditions of service of Judicial Officers in Nigeria with other countries and jurisdictions, within and outside Africa. I earnestly look forward to the completion of this peer review and the submission of recommendation, as this will assist us in no small measure, in our review of the welfare packages.”

To think that the above statements by Mr. Buhari, were made at a function where Mr. Maikyau was not just in attendance, but occupied a front row, leaves one more taken aback, by his current display. Earnst & Young’s findings were documented in a report, which was submitted to the President, the RAMFC, the National Assembly and other stakeholders in the value chain. It would later be discovered that the N15 Million professional fees of Earnst & Young were personally borne by the duo of Olanipekun and the current Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr. Lateef Fagbemi at a ratio of 10:5. No doubt, the report presented a basis and resources for the legislative processes that followed, before the eventual enactment of the Act.

JOINT EFFORTS OF SENIOR LAWYERS AND THE JUDICIAL STAFF

As earlier hinted, the birth of the child, upon which Maikyau now imposes his fatherhood, was not without complications and protracted labour hours, with various physicians and surgical blades at play. Even long before the intervention of the Body of Benchers, the eminent Senior Advocate, Mr. Olisa Agbakoba had in two separate actions, that is, Suit Nos. FHC/ABJ/CS/63/2013 and Suit No: NAD/56/2013, against various governmental stakeholders, including the Federal Government, the National Judicial Council, the National Assembly, Ekiti State Government, etc., obtained judgments in his personal capacity, granting financial autonomy of the judiciary. More recently in 2022, another respected Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr. Sebastain Hon, in his personal capacity and supported by over 100 members of the Inner Bar and 30 members of the Outer Bar, appearing as counsel, made another attempt through an action against the National Assembly (NASS), the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), the National Judicial Council (NJC) and the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), over the poor salary of judges in Nigeria. The irony is that though this action was predates Maikyau’s assumption of office as NBA President, he was no where to be found on the long roll call, even when very gray hairs like Solomon Awomolo, SAN, J.B. Daudu, SAN, OCJ Okocha, SAN, Kanu Agabi, SAN, and E.C. Ukala, SAN, registered their unequivocal support, both in court appearance and preparation of processes. Or what do you say of the daunting efforts of the handlers of the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria, who had in January, 2014, obtained judgment against the National Judicial Council and the Governors of the 36 States of the Federation to court, over the same issue?

AS AGAINST MAIKYAU’S CLAIM TO EXCLUSIVE OWNERSHIP RIGHT

Therefore, even before the coming of Maikyau, men had committed their voices, goodwill, efforts, intellect and resources to the cause which has eventually culminated in this result. So, it is unlawyerly, and for want of a milder expression, extremely political for Mr. Maikyau to shut his eyes to all these efforts and resources, while attempting to arrogate the grandeur and applauds to himself and his men alone. How do we mutilate history this much, even before the events become history? No doubt, the story may not be complete without a mention of Mr. Maikyau’s name, as his voice was very loud in support of a review of salary review for judicial officers. However, he is not the champion he claims to be, as he only arrived at the racecourse at a time the horse had already bolted.

While every kind-hearted individual should naturally sympathize with Mr. Mikyau concerning the anticlimax of goodwill experienced in his NBA stint, and the fact that he would spare nothing that could count as an achievement, he, however, lacks exclusive title in this regard. In fact, he is at best, a joint tenant with several other tenants, owning very limited interest in the pool.

Mr. Maikyau’s attitude is reflective of a typical African politician, who would rather have it to himself than come clean. This bears a counterproductive effect on office holders, who are incentivized to adopt the sit-tight syndrome, since people like Mr. Maikyau who may tomorrow assume the stage, will not accord them any credit for their efforts while they held sway. Be that as it may, if my opinion is anything tradeable on the floor of the opinion exchange, then all the contributors who are still alive should jettison the conventional modesty and assume Mr. Maikyau’s kind of “modesty” by blowing their own trumpets. After all, as the late Sir Ahmadu Bello once said, “If you do not learn to blow your trumpet, there may be no one who will do it for you.”