Facts That Astonish.
It often amuses and iritates me (at the same time) how uninformed, misinformed, neo-colonial, confused and even lost we are in Nigeria and in the legal profession in particular!!..We usually glory in the silly, medieval accoutrements we adorn in the legal profession often shamelessly copied from the British…the wigs?..gowns?..winged collar?..stripe pants?..bally shoes?, the black color…in this tropical heat???. etc…Nobody worries that these garments for lawyers and judges in Nigeria, portray us as buffoonish, cartoonish, european-medieval and do not really add anything to the competent practice of the law..does it??..These days when I pass Nigerian Court Houses, say in lagos, Abuja, Awka, and recently at Nnewi, i marvel at the different lady justice..’symbols of justice’ we use!!..Shouldn’t the symbol of justice in Nigeria be one??..its history and symbolism well known and understood?..taught in our law schools??..and fully understood??…In court houses in lagos, some justice symbols, wear the beautiful ‘Iro and Buba’ outfit of Yoruba women!..In Abuja some look eerily look like a white woman in blindfolds holding a scale!..At Nnewi, I couldn’t even make out whether the symbol is a man or woman!..I think my lady Hunchback looks a lot closer to what the ‘Lady justice” symbol should look like!!.. In Abuja here, I asked my mentees, what they think of the ‘Lady Justice’ symbol?..it’s origins?..history?..significance?..Shockingly, they have no coherent ideas about the symbol at all..One told me, she thought it was the British symbol of justice!…Very sad!!. these are our future lawyers and judges!! Well, it’s very clear that Nigeria, more than 60 years independent, is still suffering from a major identity crises!..Our neo-colonial status, is intact and un-diminished!!..The United States was a British colony too, until 1776!.. But it has worked hard to rid the society of the many British medieval, fuedal symbols!!..Recently, Burkina Faso, under Captain Ibrahim Traore got rid of theirs too!!.. NO!!..The symbol of justice is not British nor Roman..It’s not even european at all…The symbol of a blind folded woman holding a scale was the symbol of justice in ‘Ancient Egypt’…(KEMET) the oldest civilization in the world!!..It thrived in the Nile Valley (from Cairo to East Africa) for more than 10, 000 years!!…It is still the oldest civilization in world history..It’s surviving monuments and global influence are still the envy of the world even today!!..It is the basis what is claimed today as western civilization!!.. THE Egyptian symbol of Justice is called: MA’AT!!…It signifies Justice, balance, temperance, fairness, neutrality and cohesion!!.. The symbol depicts a blind folded black/African woman holding a scale in her right hand…The BLIND FOLD signifies neutrality!!…(a judge must be completely neutral from the parties appearing before her) On one side of the scale is the HEART symbol of the penitent/ complainant/plaintiff…and on the other side of the scale is the light OSTRICH feather!!..For justice to prevail, the scale must be in balance..the heavy heart of the penitent/plaintiff must be in balance with the Ostrich feather!!..Then, justice is said to be done!!. This symbol was copied by the Greeks, then later by the Romans and thousands of years later, by the British, when it colonized Egypt!!!!. At the Temple of Pharoah SETI 1st at Abydos, Egypt, the symbol is still there etched in the wall more than 10,000 years ago!…At the Temple of Horus, at Dendera..it is there!!.. At the Temples of Ramseses 11 and Nefertiti at Abu Simbel, near Aswan, Southern Egypt, it is still there!!… I think an African lawyer or Judge must know where the symbol comes from and what it signifies..The whole western society is molded by signs and simbols!…A non neutral judge cannot be fair nor can he/she ever render justice!!.. Covering ourselves in cartoonish British medieval robes, does not justice make!!.
mpk
