Only Stupid Lawyers Don’T Retire
He is the Otun Asiwaju of Ikorodu, Lagos. Chief Babatunde Olusola Benson, a Senior Advocate, former General-Secretary and later President, Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), was also a former Chairman, African Bar Association (ABA). Chief Benson, a philanthropist has helped educatemany less privileged through his education foundation. Besides, the octogenarian spoke on his choice of career, life after retirement, plea bargaining and sundry other issues. PETER FOWOYO met him.
May we have an insight into your background?
I am 83 years of age. I qualified as a lawyer in 1959, I practised law with my uncle, T. O. Shobowale Benson and Co. I practised for 50 years and at the age of 70 I retired. Since then I have not been handling any case. I attend to some other things like religious activities and also community services that was what I went for yesterday. We have been trying to see if we can get Lagos another state which will be called Lagoon state, I am the Chairman of that committee and it is taking my time, apart from that, I am still physically sound. I am happy and my children are happy. I am from Shobowale Benson family of Ikorodu.
You said you retired at the age of 70. Do lawyers retire?
Yes of course, my answer to that usually is that only stupid lawyers don’t retire because if you look at those who are before us, I will give you an example of Chief F. R. A. Williams SAN, who refused to retire and I will let you know if you don’t know that he sat down in court for over 20 years because he was not capable of standing up to address the court and my last cases were against him. When I saw it, I was not so happy, I mean, I had a lot of respect for him but then when it gets to the stage of my being assisted into court physically, I saw it on the television and I wasn’t happy. There was an occasion I had a case at TBS and I met him at the steps, he couldn’t go up, I sought to help him but he refused and so I left, when I came back I drove away. Apart from that, only recently I was talking to someone, I used to have correspondence in Paris whom we handle arbitration together, he was 60 years of age, a French man he just phoned me and said, “Tunde, look I am retiring.” I asked him, “What is the matter with you?” He said, “I have done it for 30 years, that is good enough, why shouldn’t I?” So he bought first class tickets for himself and his wife and they went on world tour. That is a good example of someone who wants to enjoy the fruits of his labour. I don’t see any reason why one should not retire. Well, I have retired now over 14 years. Apart from that I have my children who are lawyers, my son who is a lawyer is handling my chambers, my chambers is still there, it’s not dead, my daughter is a Judge of the High Court, isn’t that enough? In fact, the day before yesterday when I was going to this Lekki side, I just told my wife that I was going to sleep at Bunmi’s place and I went to her house, we chatted till 12 midnight, the following morning i traveled to the point of the conference. In the morning, i woke up, took breakfast before leaving so, what do I want to go and do in court? I am going to carry burdens of other people; I have carried it for 50 years that is enough.
Like you are doing now, when I retired, journalists rushed here saying they understood lawyers don’t retire, asking why I was retiring, do lawyers retire? What are you going to do now? I said oh, that is a good question. I have built this house over 30 years ago and I have been driving to Lagos and back. I have nice swimming pool and above that I have enjoyed living inthis house. I have never been a tenant to anybody for 30 good years since 1974. So if I retire, I can tell you people are coming here, they want me to handle their cases for them but, I am not handling any case again. I travelled all over the world. I have prepared my biography or autobiography. I have nine children, 20 grandchildren, they are enjoying me and I am enjoying them so, why shouldn’t I retire? I have my God to serve, my God allowed me to be over 70 which the bible says is enough in Psalm 90 or 91, it says three scores and ten. He has showered me with too much of blessings so why shouldn’t I serve Him? I had no time to serve him, you know in Lagos I had no time whatsoever to serve my neighbors, my first house was in Surulere. First thing in the morning I jumped into my car, drive to court and will not get back until 8 or 9pm. I hadn’t served even my community that is two. The third one is that I am from a very big family. Benson family we are very big family, my last count we are over a thousand, my grandfather was somewhere there and as at that count, there were several Bensons and like I said before, how do I attend to them? Those who don’t have post graduate qualifications have two degrees so how do I serve the extended family? What I first did was to establish a foundation, B. O. Benson Education Foundation, no Benson family, that is, my immediate family should enjoy from there, several people have enjoyed from it. I have an archbishop who came through me, through that foundation, I have doctors, I have lawyers.
If not law what would you have studied?
Medicine, as my first cousin, Professor Bolaji Akinsanya, we all went to the pathology department because he is a medical doctor, he is a professor now. What I love most was to be called Dr. Babatunde Benson but I was staying with my uncle, TOS Benson when I was in secondary school. He had already qualified as a lawyer and he was going into full politics so he wanted some of us to take over from him. He didn’t tell me not to, then we had jobs, he said, “Tunde why don’t you go to the High Court?” if you see him then there were few lawyers, he was riding a Pontiac, his friend, Honorable Justice S. O. Lambo was also. Now I went to court, worked as a clerk there, you will want to become a lawyer. I now wanted to become a lawyer. J.I.C. Taylor will go into his sports car so when he suggested it, he was responsible for my education in England so that was why I changed to law but, that ambition of becoming Dr. Benson was crystallized sometimes ago when Lagos State University called me and conferred on me a honorary doctorate degree because I was there external solicitor but I don’t use it because it is honorary. Okay like my aunty now, Chief Dr. Oprah, it’s just honorary.
Do you have any regret?
Regret? Oh, none whatsoever. I recall a number of my colleagues who haven’t done as well as I have so, why should I regret it. Like I said this cousin of mine here is 82 years now, he is a professor. He is the husband of the controversial Honorable Justice Akinsanya. I have no regret whatsoever. In fact, I thank God for making me a lawyer.
Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo state has dared a former governor, Rashid Ladoja to sue him over his claim that the latter refunded N500 million to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) as a form of plea bargaining to get off the anti-corruption agency hook. What is plea bargaining? Is it known to our laws?
Well, plea bargaining is clearly America, it is not done in England where I studied but you get into that mess and what is called tracing, the fund is traced into your purse and you can’t get out of it and then the Americans would say let’s get this money out of this man and then we would allow him to go, that is pure plea bargaining and I think one of the people who brought that about was Professor Osinbajo and other professors, they believed that take for instance the fellow who was prosecuted on the pension fund, several millions and the law in the north says fine him and he was fined about N700, 000.00 perhaps if they have done proper plea bargaining they would have got the money back. I think that was what Mrs. Ibru did, see how many properties they recovered so for recovering that it is good but, it is not nice for our system because it encourage fraud. Alright, if I steal N12 billion they would take one of these houses, I still have some money. So if Ladoja did that and he was not prosecuted or convicted, governo Ajimobi will have a very high task because that is libel, he can go to court for libel, he can’t show evidence but sometimes they never liked to wash their dirty linens in public and so he will not sue.
