MY MOST DRAMATIC DAY IN COURT: Petrified day I defended accused unprepared

Barrister Zakari Issa graduated from the University of Abuja and was called to the Nigerian Bar in 2012. He subsequently had his pupilage at Ajibade & Associates otherwise known as Eminence Chambers at Sultan road, Ilorin from 2013-14. After going through the rudimentary of the legal practice and cutting his teeth at that chamber, he left for the civil service and was employed as a State counsel at the Kwara State Ministry of Justice. In this interview with ACTING EDITOR, MUMINI ABDULKAREEM, he shares one of his remarkable moments in practice thus far. Excerpts:
The incident I can easily relate with now on this issue was way back in 2013 when I was still in private practice. It happened that I was given a case file to handle at the High Court and the case was for hearing and I was supposed to put in my defense as the counsel to lead the particular accuse person in evidence. Prior then, I have never had any briefing with the client before and my boss never told me anything about the case until he handed the file to me that day. But when I got to court, I discovered the case was for defense. That day, I felt like the world is turning upside down because I don’t know the next line of action to tow, being someone who is just barely a year at the bar then. So I had to approach a senior colleague who guided me and hint that I should interview the accused person to get the fact of the case that which I did and I prepped him how I want him to tailor his line of defence on what he knew in respect to the case. Although, the incident was very dramatic to me then, but since I have developed courage and confidence due to years of experience despite the difficulty that I went through the first time.