Nigerians have been described as being non litigious NEGROIDHAVEN can say.
F. Baba Isa an Abuja-based legal practitioner held this disposition this week in a social thread with the title: I WILL SUE THEM.
According to Isa, after 24 or 48 hours, the disposition to sue dwindles.
His words, ‘Nigerians are non litigious. Most of them have never seen the 4 walls of a courtroom but they can swear on their village juju that nothing works in court. They can swear that all cases take years to conclude, when the fact is, there are cases we conclude in months and at times weeks. ’
Writing earlier Isa opined that, ‘I have learnt that if a Nigerian calls you, sounding all angry and telling you that he wants to sue someone, just listen, calm down and listen again. Better still don’t say anything about the matter until after 24 or 48 hours. By that time 99% of Nigerians will tell you they don’t want to sue again. They want to “leave it for God!”
‘I learnt this the hard way. As a young lawyer someone will just call me up after he has been pissed off at a checkpoint or in a bank and start shouting about how he wants to sue the government, the whole village and the whole heaven and earth. Fiam, me as young lawyer when blood dey hot, I will just start drafting the court process without even discussing my fees.
‘After spending sleepless nights drafting the court process, the person will just tell me how he has decided to leave it for God. Me, I will just look for somewhere to go and laugh because I really want to cry. And the guy doesn’t even know that an average court process is about 50-100 pages. Yes, I spent sleepless nights drafting a 50-100 pages court process and the guy decided to leave it for God. Without paying my fees. He will leave my fees for God too.
The learned gentleman advised that not seeking redress in court is doing oneself a lot of harm. According to him, going to court for justice is duty to society and country.
‘People who don’t seek redress in court do themselves a lot of harm. When your daughter is raped and you leave it for God, you have also left a rapist to rape other people’s daughters and even your other daughters.
‘Seeking redress is a duty one does his society and country. A docile people, a people who do nothing when their rights are trampled upon, are conquered!
‘I know that our justice system is not necessarily the best in the world right now, but constant engagement by citizens will help improve the system’, Isa concluded.
