I’ve always advocated celebrating our heroes while they are still alive, hale and hearty; posthumous tributes cannot encourage those we praise to do more, nor focus the reader on a living role-model. And as I try to follow my own advice, this is what I will do today. I wish to sing the praises of a man who exemplifies the ideal Nigerian: incorruptible, generous, courteous, hardworking and determined. Perhaps by writing about him, we can all be encouraged to emulate him and his likes.
Knowing that Dr Nasiru had applied to be Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), I followed this year’s selection process more closely than ever. The minute the list dropped in my inbox last month, I scrolled down fast finding “Nasiru” because that’s all I cared. If he got it, I didn’t care who didn’t. If he didn’t, I didn’t care who did.
Spotting “Nasiru Adamu Aliyu, Esq” at number 16 of 72 was one of the best feelings of my entire life. Masha-Allah! Alhamdulillah! He made it. He has fulfilled the dream of every practising lawyer – obtaining the suffix “SAN”, earning the privilege of wearing the silk gown and of sitting in the inner bar. For circumstances beyond my control, I couldn’t join family, friends and well-wishers to witness and celebrate his swearing-in in Abuja last week, but that didn’t make me less elated.
Perhaps we ought to back up a bit. Dr Nasiru isn’t famous except in legal circles. He hasn’t made a fortune in business, commanded armies, or entered politics. In fact, he has always recoiled from the limelight. But as someone who first knew him my teacher and then had the honour of closely working with him for years, I strongly believe our legal profession needs more lawyers like him. In fact, Nigeria needs more lawyers, teachers and parents like Dr Nasiru. He is an embodiment of professional ethics and excellence, personified qualities in increasingly short supply in our legal system.
Born on 28th December, 1968, in Birnin Kudu of Jigawa State, Dr Nasiru obtained his Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree from Bayero University, Kano, between 1989 and 1994 before proceeding to the Nigerian Law School in 1995 for his one-year vocational legal training. He then went to Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, for his Master of Laws (LLM) degree from 2002 to 2006 before he bagged his PhD in International Law between 2006 and 2010 from Wuhan University, China.
You often hear unbelievable stories of how senior lawyers exploit junior colleagues under them; they pay them peanuts (when the pay comes at all); they harass them for the simplest mistakes and treat them like they are nothing. Dr Nasiru is the complete opposite; he treats his junior colleagues like his beloved blood brothers and sisters. I joined his office the very week I was called to the Bar after he approved my request to do an ‘unpaid’ pupillage with him. Contrary to our agreement, he chose to pay me a decent monthly salary, but he went even further than that: like other lawyers in the office, I was paid one third of the fees brought in by any case I worked on. Those are cases I wouldn’t have got on my own because nobody knew me. In addition to that, he would permit us to work personal cases and take the fees, with the only requirement that we register in the office. As if all this magnanimity wasn’t enough, Dr Nasiru was also personally generous with gifts, with no expectation of return.
Much more important than money, Dr Nasiru played a key role in horning my legal skills and helping me to find my feet. He started assigning me cases almost immediately. He offered all the support I needed; guiding, correcting, and encouraging me. His decades of working with Alhaji Aliyu Umar (may Allah admit him to Jannah) – one of the best criminal lawyers Nigeria has seen, his experience of teaching law from a polytechnic to a law school and then to a university coupled his experience of serving as a prosecutor for the Failed Banks Tribunal and the Medical & Dental Practitioners Tribunal, in addition to working as an attorney in regular courts and tribunals, made him a school from which my colleagues and I learnt every single day. His extreme self-discipline and decency turned him into a role model for me and the many lawyers he nurtured and raised.
At a time when actors, stakeholders and observers lament of declining ethical standards in the legal profession, integrity and professional ethics are Dr Nasiru’s watchwords. He constantly reminded us by his words and actions that the client and their property are a trust that must be treated with all devotion, dedication and honesty. I observed how he treated courts with highest courtesy and honesty even in the face of brazen injustice and saw how he treated his seniors with respect and his juniors with compassion – even when they did not reciprocate. His legal acumen is simply exceptional. His skill to anticipate technical and substantive legal challenges and prepare in advance is nothing less than prophetic. He had every locus classicus at his fingertip.
Dr Nasiru is an example that one can rise to the pinnacle of the legal profession without cutting corners or compromising one’s moral principles. As someone who has worked, travelled and observed Dr Nasiru for years, I know for a fact that he outstandingly merits the silk gown. I know he won’t just enjoy the privileges it affords as many do, but also eagerly pay his due. He won’t use SANship to terrorise other lawyers or exploit clients, but to uplift colleagues and fight for justice.
I encourage Dr Nasiru to keep the admirable qualities that made him what he is today and extol us to borrow a leaf from him. But as we need the qualities he displays more than ever, I can’t wait to see him appointed to a professorship of law, and build up the next generation of lawyers.
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