Justice Wasiu Akanbi, is the immediate past President, Customary Court of Appeal in Osun State. He tells BOLA BAMIGBOLA about his career, experience on the bench and other issuesI was born in Iwo, Osun State, on June 15, 1956. My father passed on in 1957. Thereafter, I followed my mother to Ile-Ife, where she hailed from. For my elementary education, I attended Ethiopian Central Primary School, Iyekere, Ile-Ife. I returned to Iwo for my secondary education at Iwo Grammar School.
I remember one incident when I was in primary school. We were asked to go and cut bamboo that would be used for sports and about six of us went into the bush. There was a lake there and we branched to swim. One of us was unable to swim, so he stayed at a point where the water would not go beyond his knee length. Then, I pushed him into the water and we all struggled to rescue him.
Aside from your daughter who you mentioned earlier, do you have other children practising the profession? I did not plan to become a judge. My plan was to go into private practice after retiring from the Legal Aid Council. However, I met a gentleman, who retired as a judge in 1997. We interacted closely and he felt that I was a suitable candidate for the office of a judge. He was the one who practically held me . I said I was not interested and he said all my years in the public sector would be a waste, asking why I didn’t practise immediately after I was called to Bar.
Also, as a tribunal judge in Lagos in 2007, there was a case of examination and verification of ballot papers. One of the parties called on a particular witness— an expert— who examined the papers. However, the lawyer was not convinced of what the man said. So, he asked him how many papers he examined and how long it took to examine a ballot paper.