Majority Of Nigerian Judges And Lawyers Do Not Wear Wigs And Gowns BY FEMI FALANA
Between 1983 and 1987, the radical military regime of Captain Thomas Sankara changed the colonial name of Upper Volta to Burkina Faso. While the courts bequeathed by the former French colonial overlords continued to dispense justice to the elite, people’s tribunals were established to decide cases based on African jurisprudence. The Tribunals were constituted by representatives of workers, farmers, women and youths. The decisions handed down by the tribunals were hailed by the people. The experiment did not outlive President Sankara, as the tribunals were abolished by the Blaise Campaore regime.
Some Nigerian lawyers have condemned the action of the Burkinabe government for having the temerity to throw away foreign wigs and gowns from the courts. In glorifying colonialism in local courts, such lawyers are perhaps not aware that the British did away with wigs and gowns for the most part since 2007 and that lawyers are no longer required to wear wigs and gowns during civil court appearances or before the Supreme Court. Today, wigs and gowns are only worn by lawyers in criminal cases.
Following the decision by British Courts to discard the wigs and gowns, the Malawian Constitutional Court has ruled to suspend the requirements for lawyers and judges to wear the traditional white wigs and black robes in the courtroom even due to an early season heat wave that swept through the southern African nation in November 2019.
In Nigeria, wigs and gowns may soon be consigned to the dustbin of history as they are currently worn by the lawyers who appear in some of the superior courts of record, including the Supreme Court of Nigeria; Court of Appeal; Federal High Court; High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja; High Court of a State; National Industrial Court; Sharia Court of Appeal of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja; Sharia Court of Appeal of a State; Customary Court of Appeal of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja and Customary Court of Appeal of a State.
While the High Courts of Appeal are largely patronised by a few members of the wealthy and privileged citizens, the inferior courts, namely Magistrate Courts, Area Courts, Customary Courts and Sharia Courts, are attended by poor and illiterate citizens. Even though the wearing of wigs and gowns is mandatory in the “superior courts of record”, judges and lawyers are occasionally compelled to jettison their wigs and gowns due to our inclement weather. In the same vein, judges who sit in colonial buildings without ventilation and lawyers who appear before them also dump their wigs and gowns as the courts can no longer afford expensive diesel-to-power generators for judicial proceedings.
Daily, palaces of traditional rulers, police stations, and mediation centres operated by Non-Governmental Organizations in all states of the Federation settle more disputes than the “superior courts of record.” The few lawyers who appear in such fora do not wear wigs and gowns. Yet, the majority of the cases decided in such fora are not challenged in appellate courts as the parties are usually satisfied with the decisions of the “judges” who do not wear wigs and gowns.
Since Nigerian lawyers cannot be more Catholic than the Pope, they should be prepared for the cultural revolution that will soon consume the European-style wigs and gowns in the courts. After all, the majority of lawyers who appear in Magistrate Courts, Customary Courts, Area Courts, Sharia Courts, Arbitration and Mediation Centres, Judicial and Administrative Panels of inquiry, Courts-Martial, Coroners’ Inquests and Election Petition Tribunals do not wear wigs and gowns but formal legal suits.
Comparatively, the rate of resolution of disputes in the Magistrate Courts and Mediation Centres is higher than the High Court in Lagos State. It is on record that out of the 23,900 judgments delivered by the Lagos State Judiciary from October 2017 to September 2018, the High Courts delivered 3,984 rulings and 2,876 judgments, while the Magistrates’ Courts delivered 16,862 judgments, and the Small Claims Courts delivered 178 judgments. However, between January and November 2018, the Lagos State Citizens’ Mediation Centre (CMC) resolved 36,788 disputes.
From the foregoing, it is crystal clear that the masses of the people are satisfied with the quality of justice obtained in the inferior courts where judges and lawyers do not wear wigs and gowns. It is therefore hoped that Burkina Faso and other African countries that are dumping the foreign wigs and gowns will reform the informal justice sector that dispenses justice to the majority of the peoples of Africa.
Femi Falana is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and human rights crusader
