“It takes your enemy and your friend, working together, to hurt you: the one to slander you, and the other to bring the news to you” – Mark Twain, 1835-1910.

“It takes 20 years [or more] to make a reputation; and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’II do things differently” – Warren Buffett, 2022.

A few issues occur in our lives which call for more than one lead off quotation from sages. The legal battle pitching Pa Afe Babalola, SAN, against Barrister Dele Farotimi is one of them. I was startled the first time the statement by Twain came to my notice. It was probably in one of his classics, probably, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. It didn’t make sense to me then, only 21 years old. Since then, and now at 80+, it appears to be incomparable wisdom – when alleged libel or slander is involved.

A senior colleague once approached me to help find a good lawyer to prosecute a case of alleged defamation. First, I asked him one question: “Did you read the statement yourself?” He said “No, a friend read it”. My next question was: “How many people do you think would read it?” He was not sure. “Then, forget it.

Start a case and more people will go and read it”. He ignored my advice; went to court and he is still there eleven years after starting. The cases involved in the Babalola versus Farotimi legal war are destined to be tied up in courts for years to come. Furthermore, one or the two might be dead before the final verdicts at the Supreme Court. I have an idea who might not last the distance – irrespective of the merits of their case.

I might be wrong on this; but, it is quite possible that Pa Afe Babalola did not read Dele’s book until somebody else drew his attention to it. That was his friend; bringing the news to chief. Well, if that is the case, the “friend” had succeeded mightily in getting Pa very angry; to the point of litigation. But, he has also got thousands of people who would not have read the book to read it. I certainly would not have bothered; for the simple reason that the Nigerian judiciary has become a scandal in many respects – given their judgments.

Permit me to state upfront that I am not prejudging any of the multiple cases that would arise out of the legal warfare involving Pa Afe Babalola and lawyer Farotimi. I am quite contented to allow the justices assigned to handle them to do their work. To be quite candid, when cases like this come up, I am inclined to agree with Shakespeare once again that, “The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers”. Since the news of Farotimi’s arrest broke, I have read mountains of stuff sent to me by friends; who got the originals from lawyers from both sides. I am sick and tired of the legal cross-fire. Only one thing interests me in this matter; and that is consideration for Chief Babalola’s age. I would feel the same if it was Farotimi who is 95 years old.

My sympathy for Chief Babalola rests on the fact that this case will not end in a long time. Right now, the two combatants, like wrestlers on the Wild World of Wrestling, WWW, have acquired tag team partners, willingly or inadvertently, doing everything fair and foul to influence public opinion. Nothing suggests that they would limit themselves to just that and not mobilise corrupt police and judiciary officials. A lot of dirt, true or false, will be dug up and splashed around long before this fight is over – if nobody mediates it.

I strongly believe that regardless of the merits of the cases, Chief is at a social and political disadvantage. His powerful friends are far from popular; and they are reluctant to speak out on matters such as this. His adversaries, most of them who really are indifferent to the facts of the case, are deeply experienced in street fighting. They are numerous, unrelenting and vicious attackers. Blows below the belt will be delivered. As a friend writing for the BOSTON GLOBE told me in 1972, “If you dig deep enough into anybody’s past, you will find sh*t”.

The spades are out digging; and for at least one human reason. “You’ll find envy where there’s good fortune. There are people who will envy you if you’re happy” – Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, 1918-2008, VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOTATIONS, VBQ, p 49. Again, let me state upfront that the comments which follow don’t apply to Dele Farotimi – who might have a genuine grievance. It just happens to be a fact that successful people attract a great deal of envy. It is impossible to be a world champion without beating a lot of contestants.

Few competitors in any field of endeavour are gallant losers. Thousands of lawyers and litigants who lost cases against Chief Babalola would have their feelings assuaged by clinging to the idea, rightly or wrongly, that they were rigged out of justice. They have already judged this case. Nothing pleaded in the courts will persuade them if the verdict favours Chief Babalola. There’s another reason for which lawyers account in every case such as this.

“And, whether you’re a honest man or whether you’re a thief depends on whose solicitor has given me my brief” – Sir William Gilbert, 1836-1911, VBQ p 123. A clergyman, who detests lawyers as much as Shakespeare, repeatedly describes all of them as the devil’s advocates. For the right amount, they will defend the most heinous criminal and attempt to get him off the hook. It is, therefore, not surprising that they have lined up on the two sides ready for action. Lay men and women, like me, will have to wade through a lot of twaddle to obtain a viewpoint which can be rendered in one sentence.

EX-PARTE JUDGMENTS AND ORS

“Never go to excess; but, let moderation be your guide” -Cicero Though Oscar Wilde, had, with tongue in cheek, announced that “Moderation is a fatal thing. Nothing succeeds like excess”. I belong to the old school whose values align with those of Cicero in the belief that anything carried to excess is not good. Chief Babalola’s allies have taken steps which, at this stage of the case, are to me worrisome. The ex-parte judgment obtained, empowering them to seize copies of the book, if allowed to stand, will represent a questionable step. As a rule, and as a writer, five books so far, I regard ex-parte rulings injustice codified. I raised objections when the Bubari administration obtained an ex-parte injunction to proscribe the Shites and to arrest El-Zakzakky and his wife.

I am a Christian, but, to me fairness in any case starts with letting both parties be heard. Ex-parte applications deny fair hearing to one party; and can, therefore, not be just – irrespective of why and how it is obtained. Furthermore, the decisions impose punishment on a party which had not been allowed to defend himself. How, on Earth, can that be just? As it is, the court order is of severely limited value. It only inhibits Nigerians from going to bookshops to buy the book. That is small gain; in exchange for great damage. Nigerians don’t buy a lot of books. Most of the sales will be abroad. It is doubtful if the Inspector General of Police, IGP, will travel to the US, or Europe to stop the sale of the books there. Meanwhile, the entire step smacks of bullying using the judiciary as an accomplice and creating sympathy for the other side.

Similarly, asking that Dele Farotimi be dis-barred before the original suit has been decided is even more perplexing. The question here is: Which court of law has convicted him of any crime which could call for such action? The case is still too fresh for that. I understand how Pa Babalola feels on this matter. Rightly or wrongly, he feels disgraced and wants the offender punished severely. But, Chief grew up in the age when Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice was widely read in schools. He should remember what happened to the man who asked for his “pound of flesh close to the heart”. A legal victory, if secured in his life time, might be outweighed by social repercussions which nullify the results. It might be a pyrrhic victory.

BADENOCH IS A POLITICIAN

“Politicians neither love nor hate” – Babylonian Valmud BReW

So much energy and time has been spent by Nigerians on what Keni Badenoch, the UK Tory leader, said about Nigeria. Most of it is emotional and meant for domestic consumption. It will in no way affect the next election in the UK. As far as I am concerned, the young lady is a politician – who, like others, will gladly piss on Mum and Dad; if it will help win the next election. That’s all.