Dr Freaks Journal - A Lesson About Being Humble

“There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.”

21 June 2021:


The day started early for me. I had a matter in court (Igbosere) and it was a Monday! Fela wasn't kidding when he sang "L'ojoo Monday, Eko O Ni Gbagba Kuugba". 

On certain occasions, I've been tempted to conclude that spirits do come in from the world beyond to populate Lagos roads on Mondays. The traffic is brutish, hellish and (not) short, (but long). No thanks to Thomas Hobbes.


On this fateful day, a client requested a meeting. By virtue of the Rules of Professional Conduct (RPC), a legal practitioner is prohibited from taking instructions from a client in his/her home. However, like every general rule, there are exceptions to this rule. When a client is aged or critically ill, who says you cannot bend the rules?

I found my way to his place around Lekki/Ajah and in an unprecedented manner, I was kept outside for more than 5 minutes. That is unusual! He had just changed the guards and the new guards needed to clear me before granting me access. He is not a "small boy" after all and rolls inside billions.

I was fuming though, because I hadn't come to curry favour, but I had come all the way to solve his issues and get paid in exchange for the services rendered. The fierce looking security detail surfaced after a while, smiling now and ushered me into the main building.


On getting inside, the client welcomed me and informed me that he was busy in the kitchen. His hobby is cooking. Each time I visit, he always makes it a point of duty to cook for us. Then, there was this young man, seated on the dining table with my client's elder brother. The elder brother remembered my face. He smiled and waved. The young man looked at me from head to toe. He sized me up and probably concluded that I was an applicant or one of the people who come around to curry favour from this wealthy "uncle". 

He failed to respond to the courtesy extended to him by me. Maybe he responded in his mind, but since the devil himself knoweth not the intents of man, I could not have found out what was running through his mind.


Did I feel bad? Maybe initially, but I swiftly moved on. I took the instructions and we gisted for close to 20 minutes. The topics ranged from "gossips" about some rich men (his friends), Nigerian prisons and the latest "tenants" therein. Then, food was ready and in his usual element, he served the four of us, including the young man.

 He brought mine and his brother's to the dining room and asked the young man to go get his from the kitchen. The young man picked his food up and approached the dining room where we were eating. 

Guess what, he got the first shocker. My client asked him to go and eat either in the kitchen or in the garden. He felt bad.


Our feasting continued and by the time we were done, my client called the young man and asked him to come and park our plates (including mine). I could feel and see the anger in his eyes but who is he to say no to his employer (it turned out that he was the one managing his Foundation. Even if, and so what?)


Was I glad? I was, because God humbled him right before me. There is nothing derogatory about packing plates, but when a proud soul is instructed to so do in the presence of the one he had derided, it is a big deal.


It was time to go now and coincidentally, my client instructed him to open the door for me on my way out. Guess what, this time around, he didn't have difficulty in saying "Good Bye Sir" before shutting the door behind himself.


“There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.”


“On the highest throne in the world, we still sit only on our own bottom.”


“True humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less.”


Be humble.

Its Kunle