Professor Dauda Ojobi Books Apr 2026

The book’s final essay, "Can a Judge Be a Patriot?" , sparked a heated debate at the 2022 Nigerian Bar Association conference. Ojobi’s answer is provocative: "Yes, but only if their first loyalty is to the constitution, not the president who appointed them." A departure from his solo works, this is a practitioner’s handbook. Dense, technical, and exhaustive, it has quickly become the go-to reference for litigation lawyers in Lagos and Abuja. Its novelty lies in the inclusion of "digital evidence in customary settings" —a chapter on how texts, WhatsApp messages, and call records can be authenticated within traditional dispute resolution frameworks. Style and Readership Ojobi is not a writer for casual beach reading. His prose is precise, sometimes dense, but never ornamental. He writes like a judge delivering a considered ruling—every sentence carries weight. However, he has an unexpected gift for the memorable metaphor. Corruption is "a river that drowns the fisherman and the fish alike." A weak judiciary is "a fence made of rain."

Ojobi’s response, typically delivered with a dry chuckle in interviews: "The perfect is the enemy of the functional. I offer functional, not paradise." professor dauda ojobi books

His primary audience remains academics (law, political science, African studies), legal practitioners, judges, and policy advisors. But his work on ethics and corruption has found a secondary readership among journalists and civil society activists. No profile would be complete without noting the critiques. Some scholars argue that Ojobi over-romanticizes customary law, glossing over its patriarchal and exclusionary elements. Others say his proposed hybrid systems are administratively impractical in under-resourced states. The book’s final essay, "Can a Judge Be a Patriot