Pilot Law

My most dramatic day in court

 

With Kayode Adeoti

Kabiru Dayo Adebayo is one of the young lawyers in Kwara State jurisdiction who has carved a niche for himself in the legal profession. He bagged his LL.B from University of Ilorin in 2012 and he was called to the Nigeria Bar in 2014. After his NYSC programme, he had a brief stint with T.M Onaolapo & Co. and A.O Muhammed (SAN) before becoming his own principal. He is currently undergoing his LL.M programme at Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) Ile Ife in Osun State. In this interview, he shares with KAYODE ADEOTI his most dramatic day in court. Excerpts:

Talking of most dramatic moment in court, I’ve had series of them ranging from good, bad and ugly, but, I can never forget an experience I had with magistrate Muhammed Ibrahim in Ilorin here. This magistrate is one of the highly respected members of the bench in Kwara State.

Then, I was working with Barrister Toyin Onaolapo and on this fateful day, he gave me a case file to handle in court and it was a criminal matter, unknown to me, the matter was slated for hearing, I thought it was for mention so I didn’t prepare.

However, when I got to the court, I met with the prosecutor, who confirmed that the case was for hearing. I had to confess to him that I was not prepared for it. This made him to advise me that I should tell the court that I was not prepared for the matter.

When the case was called, the prosecutor announced his appearance and I did too. Afterwards, I was to allow the prosecutor to tell the court whether the matter was for hearing or mention, but for fear of unknown, I jumped the gun. I stood up and notified the court that the case was for hearing and I’m not ready. My action-provoked judge’s anger in which he had to talk in annoyance, after a while, he walked out on everyone in the court. I felt highly embarrassed.

In fact, I later got to know that the prosecutor too was not prepared because he did not have his witnesses in court. He was supposed to inform the court that the case cannot go on, and adjournment would have been taken at the instance of the prosecution instead of the instance of the accused person whom I appeared for. That scenario taught me lessons about patience and I will never forget it.

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