Mr Justice Rhodes-Vivour

Goodness this is a season of old memories of my days at the Nigerian Bar. I stepped out during lunch to pick up Gift vouchers on the strict orders of the Energetic Environmentalist and who did I bump into but one of my modern day heroes at the Bar/Bench- The Honourable Justice Rhodes-Vivour- a Justice of the Court of Appeal in Nigeria.

I bumped into him on Oxford Street and when I reminded him of where we had met, his response with a smile being, “oh you’re that stubborn little man”- for me this was high praise and I was even willing to ignore the little man bit (I mean how did he know?)

Why is he one of my heroes?- well the story goes like this, I was representing a client in a Commercial Litigation brief before Justice Rhodes-Vivour- whilst he was still a High Court Judge in- 1994 I believe and involving a UK Pharmaceutical Company against my client a Nigerian company and subsidiary of another UK company in a claim for £12M. The twist being that the Barrister on the other side had the following things in his favour:

1. He was one of the most powerful figures at the Lagos Bar at the time, being a past Chairman of the Bar Association, whilst I was a wee, fresh-faced, poor, idealistic and bloody-minded neophyte;

2. He had been one of Justice Rhodes-Vivour’s referees for his elevation to the Bench, hence he anticipated this as a leverage point- I found this out several years after.

The other side made an application for Judgement (using the Old Proceedings In Lieu of Demurrer). The hearing before Justice Rhodes-Vivour started at 9am and ended at 2.30pm, - being based on Affidavit evidence and Legal submissions. On the weight of the submissions before him and err.. the fact that the Court room was now stifling hot- what with a power cut and the added burden of Heavy Lawyers/Judges Robes (in Tropical Africa for God’s sake), the Judgement was postponed for a week.

His Judgement a week later was short and sharp, he basically threw out the Case and the application and ripped up the senior Barrister on the other side to shreds, for a number of reasons-

a. His piss-poor preparations and shambolic submissions and most importantly;

b. For using his cronies in the Military Task Force to try and intimidate my client they had also roughed-up one of my Paralegal staff in the process.

His words being that such conduct by a Senior member of the Bar was inexcusable and that the only reason he was not taking more serious action being because I had declined the same, I had won the argument, hence I wasn’t going to get myself into a further kerfuffle with a washed-up old Street-fighter scorned.

If you live in the West, you would expect this to be the minimum standard to expect from a Judge, well Nigeria has totally different indices and this was extremely principled and extraordinary candour in a system where the truth and principle are always subject to compromise.

Justice Rhodes-Vivour is regarded still as one of the most honest, principled and intellectually sound Judges in the Nigeria Judiciary and people like him gave some of us hope for Nigeria. As said, he is now a distinguished Judge of the Court of Appeal and is certainly due for elevation to Nigeria’s Supreme Court, which in itself has been an oasis of Justice in an otherwise lawless land.

He tried to encourage me to come back to Nigeria or at least keep a foot in practice back there, I was compelled to be honest and say that there weren't many like him, hence there was the hindrance to my return, since there is no point in practising in an environment where Justice is not determined by Law but by other considerations. No, sorry this wasn't brown-nosing but simple fact. For the records he said nothing in response to that point but merely insisted that I keep up some kind of presence at the Nigerian Bar, I graciously agreed to consider it.

A real gentleman and a pride to his homeland.