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“Baba Kess did lots of arbitration in respect of cases before him, in his unusual style. He would call out a defendant –“Ore wa, are you owing or not? If yes, how much and when are you paying? Why are you wasting your money on lawyers and the time of the court?” He would turn to the plaintiff -“He has admitted he is owing you and would pay on so so date. Iwo naa lo mu suuru (you too be patient).” Case adjourned for settlement”
PEGASUS REPORTERS, LAGOS | JULY 6, 2024
I know some of my friends reading this would have one thing or the other to say about this jolly good fellow – Justice Abiodun Kessington (late). We called him Baba Kess. One cannot exhaust various encounters with this rascally old man.
A very brilliant man when it came to criminal law, Baba Kess, till he died at 70 plus, was his normal self – rascally, down-to-earth. A jolly good fellow. He was not your usual judge. Although, all his unusual mannerism which he exhibited on the Bench those days, cannot be exhibited today. Time has changed. A proper lsale Eko man, he was addicted to his cigarettes. Baba Kess would take a break from sitting for 30 minutes and announce that he wanted to go and smoke. He once said in the open court that he was the only one who knew what would kill him and that it was cigarette. Yoruba was more or less his official language in court, where he usually used the phrase “Ore wa”(our friend).
Baba Kess did lots of arbitration in respect of cases before him, in his unusual style. He would call out a defendant: –“Ore wa, are you owing or not? If yes, how much and when are you paying? Why are you wasting your money on lawyers and the time of the court?” He would turn to the plaintiff -“He has admitted he is owing you and would pay on so so date. Iwo naa lo mu suuru (you too be patient).” Case adjourned for settlement.
There was never a dull moment in Baba Kess’ court. In fact, a number of lawyers, after being through with their matters at other courts, would come and sit at Baba Kess’ court to relief tension and laugh.
In those early days of CLO when we went to court on behalf of robbery suspects detained without trial for several years, some of the cases were assigned to him. One day, l was coming to meet Olisa Agbakoba in his court in respect of one of the cases and as soon as l stepped into his court, l heard him say –“Ehen, ara won ree (this is one of them). Richard, abi mo paro mo e (Richard, did l lie against you?)” And l replied, “My Lord, l am lost. I don’t understand”. He replied –“Oo ni understand (you won’t understand). Are you not one of those harassing me to release armed robbers, you and Agbako”). Turning to Olisa, he said-“Olisa, do you know the meaning of your surname? Do you know what Yorubas call agbako?” Olisa said no. Then, Baba kess said “agbako means a dreadful weird creature”. And everyone burst into laughter. Thereafter, he rose to go smoke and l went to meet him in the chambers. Because of our closeness, it was not unusual for me to meet him in his chambers. One day, l had to separate him and his younger sister in a fight in his chambers. Abusing her “Olosi, maa na e selese (Useless one, l will beat you thoroughly). Before l knew what was happening, he had attacked the woman, her wrapper fell down. I had to separate fight o, scolding Baba Kess, who was much much older than me. Fortunately, Prof. A.B. Kasumu (SAN), also a close friend of Baba Kess walked in and he intervened.
Baba Kess “no send o”. He could say anything in the open court. One day, he said a lady lawyer lied against him to her principal, that Baba Kess was strict on her because he wanted to sleep with her. The next day the lady came to court, as the lady announced her appearance, Baba Kess said “Ore wa, you went to tell your oga that l was strict on you because l wanted to sleep with you, abi beeko? (Is that not so?). Look, you are a fine girl, if l want to service you, l will service you and nothing will happen.” And court erupted in laughter.
I really don’t know what he had against Chief Rotimi Williams, but each time any counsel from the chambers appeared before him, he always reminded them to tell their principal that any day he entered his court, he would sleep in Ikoyi prison that day. And Williams avoided his court. Another day, he was angry that a retired Supreme Court Justice misrepresented him.
He said: “That was how that useless Ijesha Judge who retired from the Supreme court was talking rubbish. He came here, walking like a car whose chasis is bent, asking for a favour and l gave him all courtesy. Only for him to go and tell someone that Kessington is eccentric. Any day he steps his yeye legs into this court, l would wipe his face with a dirty slap”.
One day, Gani Fawehinmi appeared before him. They were friends, in fact, classmates in London. Baba Kess would say in open court “Gani and l were classmates. But he finished before me because he passed and l failed and l repeated a year. But, Gani, mo mo criminal law ju e lo (Gani, l know criminal law more than you). Not finished with Gani, he said “But Gani, o ni awun sha.(you are very stingy). I ordered the government to release your seized passport to enable you travel out for medical treatment and ordinary shirt or tie, you can’t buy for me when coming. O la wun sha”. Gani just laughed. Later, l asked Gani why he didn’t buy something for Baba Kess when he was coming back from London after his medicals, and Gani said that would amount to inducement.
Baba Kess was very close to the government, particularly the Babangida government. Even when l was abducted by the Abacha goons in 1996, he it was, who intervened and secured my release, a day that l was to be moved to Abuja. He reached out to Ismaila Gwarzo, then DG, SSS, who was his friend. After my release and l saw Baba Kess, he said “Wo Richard, wa kan pa e danu (look Richard, they will just kill you for nothing). He once told me “Richard, if you enter Aso Rock, you won’t like to leave the place. I can now understand why the occupants don’t like quitting. Ibe yen ti dun ju (that place is too sweet). A mutual friend told me that he accompanied Baba Kess to see IBB at the Villa one time and as they stepped into the expansive sitting room, and as soon as he saw IBB, Baba Kess hailed, in the usual rascally Lagos island way –“IBB omo ale” (IBB the bastard). The guy said IBB just smiled, saying “Chief Kessington.”
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