For Blood And Country

February 25, 2014 - BABATUNDE

I was beyond surprised when I got a call from the office of the Attorney General. I just got back from a seminar in Port Harcourt organised by the Faculty of Law in the State University for their students and others in private institutions in and around the state. I had been one of the speakers at the seminar and spoke on the challenges public defence lawyers face in Nigeria and how best to survive them. I had just stepped into my house when my phone rang. The caller said she was calling on behalf of the attorney general, that she wanted me to come in for a brief meeting in her office in Abuja before the day was over. I checked my time, it was 3:30pm but my wife, Adeshola and daughter were not at home so I put my briefcase on the settee and called a taxi then went into the kitchen and found left over rice in the warmer. I put some in a plate and gobbled it. As I was finishing up, there was a knock at the door; it was the gateman. He said there was a taxi waiting for me outside.

I thought about why the Attorney General might want to see me as I settled down in the taxi. It probably had something to do with what I had said last week when I was accosted by some reporters regarding the levity with which the government was handling the increased rate of terrorism in the country.

"Murtala Airport." I said to the driver. He nodded and started the car.

The meeting must be the connected to my activism, I thought because in all my years as a lawyer I had never met anyone that high up on a personal level. I couldn't wait to find out what it was about for sure but until then, no one could find out about the meeting, especially not Adeshola. She had always told me to be careful with my activism and with criticising the government, reminding me how dangerous Nigeria was, that everyone knew how corrupt the leaders were and I didn't have to remind them. There was a time she called my parents and told them to talk to me because I was acting like I didn't have a family to take care of, and to stop putting her and her daughter at risk, that she wasn't ready to become a widow… things like that. But I had insisted that I became a lawyer to fight injustice and nothing could stop me from fighting for the people whose voices had been supressed by corrupt governance.

As the car pulled up at the airport and I got out, my mind was made up that I wouldn't let anyone intimidate me, not even the Attorney General.