Today I pay homage to Honourable Justice Amina Augie, JSC (nee Douglas) – the triple A-rated jurist – a woman of many hats.
Born Anne Eva Graham on 3 September 1953, in Lagos, Amina Augie is one of her parents’ nine children. She had her primary and secondary education in Ibadan, Calabar, Enugu and Kaduna between 1958 and 1971. In 1977 she graduated from the University of Ife and was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1978. After completing the mandatory NYSC programme in Sokoto State, she enrolled for Master of Laws Degree (LLM) at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria in 1980. She finished her examinations, but had to suspend the completion of her thesis in order to move to Lagos with her husband. However, her quest for knowledge and personal enrichment led her back to school; to the University of Lagos where she obtained an LLM in Criminology and related subjects. She is also certified by the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators Nigeria and the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies.
She began her career in 1978 as a Legal Aid Counsel in the Sokoto State Legal Aid Council; she would later serve as Head of the Legal Aid Council between August 1979 and December 1979. She was Assistant Lecturer at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria between 1980 and 1982 and was Senior State Counsel in the Office of the Chief Counsel to President Shehu Shagari in Lagos. Her passion for knowledge acquisition and contributing to enriching the lives of others, led her to once again take on the role of teaching, she was a Law Lecturer at the Nigerian Law School, Lagos where she taught the Law of Evidence from 1984 to 1988.
She was appointed as a Chief Magistrate in the Sokoto State Judiciary in 1988 and rose through the ranks until she was, in 1992, appointed a Judge of the High Court of Sokoto State. In the meantime, she maintained her passion for teaching by serving as part-time lecturer at the Faculty of Law, Uthman Dan Fodio University in Sokoto between 1989 and 1992, and subsequently as Associate Lecturer from 1999 to 2002. In 2002, His Lordship was elevated to the Court of Appeal where she served in various divisions – Benin, Enugu, Kaduna and Lagos Divisions.
Justice Augie has also served as the Chair of many tribunals including the Recovery of Public Properties Tribunal in Sokoto State (1995 – 1996); Failed Banks (Recovery of Debts) and Financial Malpractices in Banks Tribunal, Lagos Zone V (1996 – 1999); National Assembly, Governorship and Legislative Houses Election Tribunal (2000 – 2002) and Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Niger Dock (2001 – 2002). She also served on numerous national and international committees including the Prisons Reform Committee. She has authored and published over 70 conference papers, articles and book chapters on various aspects of the law with a focus on human rights.
On 7 November 2016, Justice Amina Augie was sworn in as Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria (JSC), making her the sixth woman to serve in the apex court. His Lordship is an example of Nigerian women who are making important strides; breaking boundaries, challenging masculine domination of places of influence and authority and setting the stage for more women to rise to positions of authority within the judiciary and elsewhere.
When presiding Justice Augie maintains control of the proceedings, she is firm yet gentle, like the teacher she is, she teaches, instructs and gently scolds when the occasion calls for it. Her judgements are clear, concise and quite instructive; with an unwavering focus on achieving justice. His Lordship has been described as being “as straight as an arrow”.
In the case of IN RE: ABDULLAHI (2018) 14 NWLR (Part 1639) 272, Hon. Justice Amina Augie, JSC led the Supreme Court in reaching the novel decision to substitute the deceased Appellant with the Administrators of his estate, the Supreme Court found that the Applicants were entitled to be heard in the appeal. In delivering the lead decision, the Honourable Justice Augie held,
“I must admit that some of the foreign authorities cited by the Applicants, are highly persuasive, and when considered along with the admonishment of Lord Denning in Parker v. Parker (supra) if we never do anything that has not been done before, the law will stand still, while the rest of the world moves on, I feel motivated to look beyond the shores of this Country to find some answers.
“…: there is nowhere else for the Applicants to go since the Court of Appeal already made a pronouncement on the merits of the Appeal filed by the deceased Appellant in that Court. The deceased Appellant died after filing the Appeal against the decision of the Court of Appeal in this Court. Yes, the Appeal died with the deceased Appellant, but his estate survived him, and being Administrators of the deceased Appellant’s estate, the Applicants have an interest in his estate that lives on, and which cannot be left hanging.
“Hanging, in the sense that the Court of Appeal is functus officio, and they cannot go to any lower Court to complain about the wrong done to the estate. The Applicants are, therefore, between a rock and a hard place. It is the duty of this Court, which is placed above the Court of Appeal, to provide a remedy, and that it is to allow them air their grievance, and let this Court decide its merit. Obviously, with the arguments raised by the Parties, this is the only way to go.
“It is in this regard that I grant this Application as prayed. The name of the deceased Appellant shall be substituted with that of the Applicants for the purpose of continuing with the prosecution of Ground No. 9 of the Grounds of Appeal in the Original Notice of Appeal filed on 22/5/2009.”
Justice Augie is a mother and grandmother. She loves to spend time with family.
Yakubu Chonoko (YC) Maikyau
Chairman, NBA Welfare Committee
