After he left the Bench, Dr Akinola Aguda, an erudite jurist and the first African Chief Justice of Botswana, opened a legal consultancy office where he often invited me, to regal me with his experiences.
On one occasion, he told me that two briefs he usually advised against were Defamation and Divorce matters, particularly if the person is old. According to him, at the hearing, lots of unpalatable things that people never knew about, may come up, to the embarrassment of the parties and their children. For instance, in defamation matter when your reputation is in question, a defendant is at liberty to bring up a dirty past the plaintiff may have forgotten. This reminds me of the libel case instituted by Chief FRA Williams, SAN against Newswatch in 1985 in which matter Dele Giwa informed me l was likely to be a witness.
Newswatch hired Gani Fawehinmi, who pleaded justification, that Chief Williams had no reputation to protect. He supported this by excavating a 1949 case in which Chief Williams was charged to court for stealing his client’s money and how Justice Abbot lampooned him for a dishonorable conduct. Even though he was eventually discharged, Gani annexed the judgment and highlighted where the judge upbraided Williams for a dishonorable conduct.
Also, after Chief Gani Fawehinmi fell out with his bossom friend, Dr Olu Onagoruwa, over the latter’s decision to join the Abacha government, Dr Onagoruwa wrote a book to justify his inclusion in the Abacha government. Titled “A REBEL IN GENERAL ABACHA’S GOVERNMENT”.
In a part of the book, he defamed Gani Fawehinmi, who decided to write another book to counter the false assertions against him in Onagoruwa’s book. Titled-“THE LIES AND LIES OF DR OLU ONAGORUWA IN HIS BOOK TITLED ‘A rebel in General Abacha government’, Gani debunked with facts, the lies against him by Onagoruwa in his book. While it is within the right of any individual to choose his right of action when defamed, the admonition of Dr Aguda is quite instructive.
Richard Akinnola
