…shedding light on controversies and controversial personalities
A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chief Mike Ozekhome, in this interview with GBENRO ADEOYE and TUNDE AJAJA talks about what could have led to the freezing of his account, the fight against corruption by the present administration and other issues
Few days ago when the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission got an order of court to freeze your account for 120 days, you described that action as an attempt by the EFCC to embarrass you. Why do you think it would want to do that?
They want to embarrass me because between March last year and January this year, which is about 10 months, I have defeated the EFCC in five cases in various courts in Nigeria. First, I defeated the EFCC in the case of EFCC vs. Governor Ayodele Fayose before the Federal High Court in Ado-Ekiti in a judgement delivered by Justice Taiwo Taiwo on December 13, 2016. The court ordered that the EFCC should defreeze the account immediately and make the account operational because the freezing of the account was illegal, unconstitutional, unlawful, wrongful and unorthodox. Second, in March last year, one Col. Nicholas Achinze was detained by the Nigerian Army. They and the EFCC were playing this man like a yoyo. Army would detain him today, EFCC would detain him tomorrow. I went to court before Justice Yusuf Halilu of the FCT High Court. I defeated the EFCC. The court ordered that the colonel should be released immediately and all his seized properties be released to him. Third, in December last year in Abuja, I defeated the EFCC at the Federal High Court before Justice Nnamdi Dimgba in a case in which they had sealed the property of Governor Ayodele Fayose in some parts of Abuja and Lagos. I got the Federal High Court to unseal the property. Even while that case was still going on, they (EFCC) went again surreptitiously to the court of Justice (Okon) Abang to get another order to seal the same property which had been unsealed by Justice Dimgba because they (EFCC) live above the law, contrary to their motto that no one is above the law. Fourth, in January this year, a lawyer, Sylvanus Okpetu, practising in Warri was reported by Julius Berger to EFCC over a contract. EFCC went to Warri, abducted this lawyer like a common criminal, detained him overnight in Warri and flew him to Abuja. In Abuja, they also detained him for some days. I went to the FCT High Court, this last month. The court declared the detention, arrest and seizure of his properties illegal and awarded the sum of N6m damages against the EFCC. The court also awarded the sum of N3m damages against Julius Berger that reported the matter to EFCC. The good news is that Julius Berger has since paid the N3m to my client, but trust EFCC, when you defeat them, rather than accept it for once that they can be defeated, they would either use crude machinery of government against you or they go on appeal.
But they have the right to appeal any case.
I concede that it is their right to appeal, and in that very matter, they have already appealed. That was the fourth case. The fifth one; I defeated the EFCC in the case of Abiodun Agbele (Governor Fayose’s aide) vs. EFCC before Justice Adeniyi at the FCT High Court in Abuja in July last year. Agbele had been detained by the EFCC first in Lagos and then they transferred him to Abuja. They detained him beyond the period allowed by the constitution because they are always claiming that they are acting on a warrant of arrest or a holding charge by a magistrate. Whereas Section 35 of the 1999 constitution says you cannot detain a person more than 48 hours when a court is within two miles radius. In that case, I defeated the EFCC and the court of Justice Adeniyi declared the arrest and detention as illegal and ordered that my client be released from detention. The judge awarded the sum of N5m damages against the EFCC, which they have not paid till today, because as usual, they have appealed again. Therefore, I see the freezing of my account as an attempt to gag me, bamboozle me and intimidate me, because when I defeated them in the case of Justice Taiwo Taiwo at the Federal High Court, Ado-Ekiti on December 13, they filed a motion for stay of execution, we filed a counter-affidavit. We argued the motion on January 19 and on January 30, the judge ruled against them, and said their action and conduct were unconstitutional. The judge said the order they had obtained before Justice Idris of the Federal High Court Lagos was obtained illegally, because you (EFCC) suppressed material facts, you did not tell Justice Idris that the two unnamed accounts that you wanted him to freeze by ex-parte court order were accounts belonging to a sitting governor who is covered by immunity under Section 308 of the constitution. You lied to the court. So, the court delivered judgement against EFCC and ordered that the account should be unfrozen and made operational. They (EFCC) also lost their battle at the same Federal High Court to stay execution. Meanwhile, they appealed to the Court of Appeal. As I’m talking to you, their appeal is at the Court of Appeal.
Some other senior lawyers like you have won cases against the EFCC but the agency has not gone after them. Why would the agency be particularly after you?
EFCC is particularly after me so as to bamboozle and intimidate me because they (EFCC officials) feel I have handled so many cases against them and won. And I am winning. In 10 months, I have defeated them in five cases. I do not know any lawyer today in Nigeria that can say he has defeated the EFCC in five cases in 10 months. That is an average of defeating it in one case every two months. I am not aware of any. I am an expert by God’s grace in constitutional law, criminal law and civil law matters. And I do my research very well. I read and I work hard. I work for about 20 hours daily. I believe that what the EFCC has done is an attempt to fight and intimidate me, also because of my criticisms against governments. I have always criticised every government in Nigeria. If you google Mike Ozekhome, you will see my criticisms of various governments of Nigeria since I became a lawyer in 1981; I didn’t just start today. I didn’t just start to bother the APC. Everybody can read all I’ve been saying in the last 36 years of my life and when I criticise, I offer solutions. I use decent language; I do not disrespect my seniors or constituted authority. But this government appears to be very intolerant of opposition or criticisms to the extent that it even tried to stop the recent anti-government peaceful protests. This is a government that rode to power on the crest of public rallies and protests and on the crest of criticisms of the past government of Goodluck Jonathan. It should develop a thick skin against criticisms. The people in government see every Nigerian that criticises them as an enemy; they see everyone who agrees with them as a friend. They are attempting to turn Nigeria into a one-party state and that can never work in this country. I bet you that in another nine months, many of the people you see defecting from other parties to the APC will start returning to their former parties. The difference between the two major parties in Nigeria is like six and half a dozen, so there is no difference at all. Politicians are shameless, they have no qualms or principles or philosophy, they only go to where their tummies direct them. They only know democracy of the stomach or what Fayose calls stomach infrastructure. I have always called it democracy of the stomach. So they believe that once you are critical of the government and trying to show how government can do better, they see you as an enemy. Whereas, they should be able to see you as their best friend for being in a position to tell them the truth which their kitchen cabinet praise singers can never say to them. That is why we are going from bad to worse in this country. The average man is getting pauperised. Living in Nigeria has become hellish and some people are still clapping and praising the government, saying it is the best thing we have ever had. How can it be the best thing we have ever had when a bag of rice that was less than N8,000 barely two years ago is now between N22,000 and N28,000 today? How can anybody say we are in the best of times? How can anybody say that now that we are exchanging one dollar for N500, which used to be about N190 to a dollar barely two years ago, is that the best time? Let us tell one another the home truth because when you say the truth, it can set you free. Let us be genuine nationalists, let us be patriots. Let us know that everything is wrong with the present federal structure where the Federal Government can unilaterally seize the allocation of a state just because the man (its governor) is in the opposition. How can it happen in a democracy?
You have said that the N75m in question was professional fees from Governor Fayose, but some people, including some lawyers, have described it as too much to be a fee. How do you defend that?
Lawyers in this country during election petitions charge N500m; many Senior Advocates of Nigeria have charged N450m, N350m, and N300m. What is N75m for handling eight cases? I am handling eight cases for Governor Fayose; his aides like Abiodun Agbele; his friends like Femi Fani Kayode’s wife and those cases are spread across different courts in Nigeria. The N75m was actually part payment of my fees. I go from the Court of Appeal in Ado-Ekiti to the Federal High Court of Lagos to the Federal High Court, Abuja, and so on for different cases and I have been handling some of them for one year. And the governor could not pay me because he said his accounts were frozen and the accounts were unfrozen by order of the court and he sent me N75m as part payment, and somebody is saying that the money is too much? Even if it was for one case for a lawyer of my calibre, it is not too much. And here, we are talking about part payment for about eight cases. I know many of my juniors and mates and some that I even lectured in the university in 1982, 1983, 1984, some of them charge two, three times that amount, so it is ignorant for anybody to say N75m was too much. Let us even assume without conceding that the N75m was even for one case, is anyone saying that N75m paid to a lawyer is too much for a case as big as getting a frozen account with over N300m unfrozen? In any case, the payment of fees is a negotiation between a lawyer and his client. So, that is an argument that is idiotic because it stands logic on its head. The power of negotiation was between two parties and it was voluntary. Governor Fayose is an intelligent governor, he is not a fool. He does not even have money like that for you to think that he will just pay you N75m for one case. And even if it was for one case, it is not even enough. Anybody who has an opinion like that is biased. That opinion is prejudiced; we call it ‘an opinion of bad belle’.
Some would query why he quickly transfered the money to you immediately the account was unfrozen?
In all, I’m handling about eight cases for Governor Fayose in different courts across Nigeria, and I had sent him some bills. He said Chief I cannot pay because my accounts are frozen. Anytime, by God’s grace, my accounts are unfrozen I will pay you. When the accounts were unfrozen by the order of the court, he went to Zenith Bank – the second defendant in that case – and showed them the Certified True Copy of the order of the court. He told them at Zenith Bank that he won his case against them and they should pay him his money. Zenith Bank took the order of the court, looked at it and said it was genuine and certified. Fayose withdrew N5m in cash. All Nigerian newspapers carried the picture the following day. He came out of the bank carrying N5m in polythene bag. During the same transaction, he wrote a letter to them, at the same branch, the same venue and the same time, that the bank should transfer the sum of N75m to Mike Ozekhome’s chambers, representing part payment of professional fees. The bank, in obedience to the court order, also transferred the N75m to the account of Mike Ozekhome’s chambers. Mind you, not to the account of Chief Mike Ozekhome. The chambers is a registered separate legal entity, different from the person of Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN).
Did the EFCC appeal the court ruling that made the account operational?
While the EFCC was appealing and filing motion for stay of execution, knowing that the account was now legal and money had been transferred to my chamber legally, they went again behind surreptitiously and clandestinely like a thief in the night, as they are used to, to go before another judge of the Federal High Court in Lagos to obtain an order ex-parte, not even against Mike Ozekhome’s chambers that owned the money in the account, but they took Chief Mike Ozekhome as a person, thinking that they were going to embarrass me. Unfortunately for them, you can see the national and international backlash. The public started asking what was going on. We are not in a zoo. We are not in George Orwell’s Animal Farm; we are supposed to be operating constitutional democracy. They are saying the money is suspected money laundering or proceeds of crime. How can an account, not government account, from which the owner, Governor Fayose, took N5m from the same bank, based on an order of court, transferred N75m to my chambers. How can it be proceed of crime or money laundering? As soon as they obtained that order, they quickly gave it to the press, social media and online papers to use, believing that they were going to embarrass me. But as God would have it, because I serve the living God and not a dead God, it boomeranged on them and the backlash is something they have to live with for a long time to come.
What steps are you taking?
My chamber has filed a motion to discharge and vacate that interim order. By God’s grace, that motion is coming up soon and I know by the grace of God, it will be vacated. By the grace of God, we have filed our papers. What they are doing is that they are trying to show that they are above the law. What they have done is like saying, you have defeated us in many cases, you have also defeated us in this case, we have the coercive power and apparatus and apparatchik of the state to deprive you of the professional fees that your chamber was paid for defeating us in this case. So, what they lost in the court of law is what they are trying to get from my chambers extra-judicially. We will resist it. Tyranny will never prevail. It can bloom for some time, dictatorship can bloom for some time, absolutism can bloom for some time, but all of them have always been overtaken by justice and truth. We are not in Louis XIV of France, where he could beat his chest, famously, and declare ‘L’etat c’est moi’, meaning ‘I am the State’. We are not in Idi Amin’s Uganda; we are not in Emperor Jean-Bedel Bokassa of Central African Republic. We are not in Mussolini’s Italy. For God’s sake, we are in Nigeria; we are operating a constitutional democracy.
The anti-corruption efforts of the present administration have been greeted by commendation and criticism. How would you describe the efforts made so far?
My view as a lawyer, a patriot and a pan-Nigerian is that it is good to fight corruption generally, because corruption is a debilitating and corrosive factor that militates against development. So, corruption is not necessarily a Nigerian citizen; it is in any country of the world; it is a global citizen that bestrides the world like a colossus. It may however be more pronounced in certain parts of Africa; Nigeria is one of such countries. Corruption has therefore been here with us in Nigeria, it has been endemic, corrosive and cancerous and embedded in every facet of the society, but the way the present government is fighting corruption has made it not to be holistic; they fight perceived enemies, they fight opponents, critics, and once a person, no matter how corrupt, may have been accused, defects from any political party to the ruling party, APC, such a person is suddenly free of corruption, like Naaman the leper, who was dipped into River Jordan seven times and he became clean of his leprosy. That is why in spite of all the allegations of corruption against members of the kitchen cabinet in this government, ministers, military titans, etc., who are in the corridors of power, none of them has ever been touched, but when it was the time of judges, this government moved against them; their houses were even raided between 1am and 5am, and judges were made to lie face down inside pickup vans. The argument of government at that time was that they are corrupt judges and they must be rooted out. And in fact, they said because they have been accused, the judges must excuse themselves from further sitting. But when the same thing came to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the chairman of the EFCC, which is the first anti-corruption agency in the country, the same government came out, not only to excuse them, but to actually roll out trailer loads of defence of the same people. Suddenly, those in government realised Section 36 of the constitution that there is the doctrine of fair hearing. They suddenly realised that even God gave Adam and Eve a fair hearing in the Garden of Eden, even though being omniscient and omnipresent; He had already seen their sin. They suddenly realised that the Nigerian criminal justice system is accusatorial and not inquisitorial. Here, they have always presumed the guilt of the Olisa Metuhs, Fani Kayodes of this world, but when it comes to their own, they suddenly discover that presumption of innocence is very important. That is why the anti-corruption fight is not catching on. That is why it is being derided by majority of Nigerians. Go to the social media, online, television and print media, you would see that the anti-corruption fight was made dead by the government itself, which is why some members of even the ruling party, like Senators Shehu Sani and Dino Melaye, have criticised their own party and government for the anti-corruption war being not holistic and being not genuinely fought.
If you say the fight against corruption is not holistic, what are your suggestions then?
We are operating a constitutional democracy and in a constitutional democracy, respects for the rule of law and fundamental human rights are the two greatest ingredients needed. We need to strengthen institutions, particularly the media and the judiciary, which are the two greatest patrons against absolutism and dictatorship. But we are having a government that is all out to wear out, trample upon and bamboozle the elements that strengthen democracy. Democracy was once defined by Abraham Lincoln, in 1863 as the government of the people for the people and by the people.
Nigerians and the civil society have a duty to reclaim their true and genuine democracy. That is what I fought for all my life throughout all military juntas with all the detentions before I joined the late legal luminary, Gani Fawehinmi. Even after I left him, I have fought for the repressed people of this country. I have fought for the voiceless from my own little corner to give them voice. I have tried to give justice to the oppressed and the marginalised groups in Nigeria. I have tried to accord justice to the denied, the ignored, the rejected, the forgotten, and the wretched of the earth. I have done my little bit modestly from my little corner in this regard. So I am not going to allow my rights or that of my chambers to be trampled upon. We will fight the battle by God’s grace in the court of law. My life is in the hands of God. My life belongs to Him. Nobody has access to it; justice belongs to the people. No government in power, no matter how powerful, can take justice away from the people. It will outlast every government. Like we say in local parlance, soldiers come, soldiers go, but barracks remain. Governments come, governments go, but the people will remain because the people constitute the dog that wags the tail, which is the government.
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