TheNewsGuru

Tag: Judiciary

  • Finally, Oba Akanbi appears before Osun Court, says ‘I’m a friend of judiciary’

    Following series of rejected court summons and several statements credited to him in the media, the Oluwo of Iwo, Oba Abdulrasheed Akanbi, on Wednesday appeared before an Osun State Magistrate Court in Osogbo hearing the suit filed against him by the Oluwo Oke of Iwo Oke, Oba Kadiri Adeoye.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that Oba Akanbi appeared before Magistrate Falilat Sodamade, whom the case was transferred to after the former presiding magistrate, Mr. Olusola Aluko, withdrew on January 6.

    The monarch submitted a letter of apology to the court concerning some of the statements credited to him in the media which prompted Aluko to issue an arrest warrant against him in December 2016.

    Although the monarch defied the order but his chief, who was present in court on January 6, apologised on his behalf and said he (the monarch) could not come to court that day because he was indisposed.

    One of the counsel for the petitioner, Yusuf Oladele, told the court on Wednesday that Oba Adeoye had filed a notice of discontinuance in the application before the court.

    Counsel for the defendant (Oluwo), Mr. Olaide Yekini, while addressing the court, confirmed receiving the notice of discontinuance in the matter.

    He said, “I urge this honourable court to give effect to the withdrawal of the application and consider the letter of apology dated February 15, 2017, written by Oba Akanbi to the court.”

    The magistrate called the author of the letter to stand up to confirm it.

    According to a report by The Punch, Oba Akanbi stood up and told the court that he was the author of the letter, adding that he never meant to disrespect the court because he was a friend of the court.

    Oba Akanbi said, “I am a friend of the judiciary and I will always be. When there was a threat to close down the Iwo High Court due to poor infrastructure, I used my own personal money to renovate it and this runs into millions of naira.

    “I want to tell the court that all that happened during the matter was due to misinformation. My feeling towards that effect has been expressed in the letter before the court.”

    In her ruling, the magistrate granted the request for the discontinuation of the case and struck out all the matters related to it.

     

  • JUSUN advocates financial autonomy for judiciary

    JUSUN advocates financial autonomy for judiciary

    The Judicial Staff Union of Nigeria, JUSUN, on Saturday, called for a full financial autonomy for the judiciary arm of government across the country.

    Mr Marwan Mustapha, the National President of JUSUN, made this call at the National Executive Council meeting of the union in Lafia.

    According to him, the union will not relent in the struggle towards ensuring that the judiciary gets financial autonomy at the federal level and autonomy in all the states.

    “The judiciary, as an arm of government, is supposed to be independent financially from other arms of government in the country.

    “We cannot be intimidated to give up in the struggle for the financial autonomy of the judiciary in the country.

    “The need for the judiciary to be independent financially is not negotiable and therefore, we cannot negotiate it with anybody no matter what it will take us to achieve it.

    “We will do everything possible within the provisions of the law to achieve our demands but if we do not have our way, we may adopt other means to press for our demands,” he added.

    He, therefore, called on all state governors to grant autonomy to the judiciary in their respective states in order to avoid industrial disharmony.

    The JUSUN leader also lauded the Nasarawa State Government for addressing most of the demands of their members in the state.

    “Some demands that are still lingering are not against the State Government but with the management of the courts in the state,” he said.

    Earlier, Shuhu Usman, the Nasarawa State Commissioner of Justice and Attorney General, lauded the union for holding the meeting in the state.

    He also thanked members of the union in the state for supporting the government since inception and promised to give priority to the welfare of the judicial staff in the state.

  • Corruption in Nigeria’s judiciary makes my father cringe in his grave – Charly Boy

    Corruption in Nigeria’s judiciary makes my father cringe in his grave – Charly Boy

    An activist and former President of the Performing Musicians Association of Nigeria (PMAN), Charles Oputa, a.k.a Charly Boy, said in Lagos on Sunday that his late father, a retired justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Chukwudifu Oputa, will be cringing in his grave over corruption in the nation’s judiciary.

    He spoke at the 13th Chief Gani Fawehinmi Annual Memorial lecture and symposium with the theme, “Nigeria Anti-Corruption War: Whither The Legal Profession and The Judiciary?”

    “The masses are being corrupted by fear, my father, Justice Chukwudifu Oputa, must be cringing in his grave because of what #he corruption in the nation’s judiciary.

    “Corruption has not just become our way of life in Nigeria, but has become our legal tandem.

    “The Nigerian people are being looted by all sides, religious leaders are not helping the people, they are continuously hypnotising my people with miracles, signs and wonders,” he said.

    Oputa, who said corruption had reached an intolerable level,disclosed that he was currently involved in an activism project designed to tackle corruption and injustice in the country.

    He said: “I am involved in a street project titled, ‘our mumu don do’; this is a project through which I believe the judiciary can be cleansed of by a movement led by the masses.

    “Lawyers have become contractors, judges have opened mega banks in their homes at their villages, justice in Nigeria comes at a price.”

    Noting that not all members of the bar and bench are corrupt, he added:“Not all members of the judiciary and legal profession are bad, but current events have ridiculed the legacy left behind by my father and other legal icons.

    “The docility of the Nigerian populace has to be addressed with the emancipation of their minds because the humanity of Fawehinmi no longer exists in the country.”

    Prof. Jacob Dada, a Justice of the Court of Appeal in the Gambia, in his speech, said some members of the judiciary and legal profession have sabotaged the war against corruption.

    “Not a few members have demonstrated fidelity in the war against corruption, some have sabotaged the corruption fight.

    “They are the fifth columnist in the battle against corruption, they have frustrated the expeditious prosecution of corruption cases against high profile individuals,” he said.

    On the raids of the homes of judges suspected to be corrupt by the Department of State Security (DSS) in 2016, Dada said:“2016 cannot be forgotten due to the unprecedented raids of the homes of alleged corrupt judges.

    “This exposed the legal profession to a lot of public opinion and was a huge dent on the legal profession.

    “I will not comment on the legality or otherwise of the raid, but it was caused by the strong perception of the public that justice is available in Nigeria is at a price.

    “Some of these perceptions are caused by horrendous and inexplicable delays in the cases of corruption and the delivery of ridiculous and deplorable judgments.

    “Also, the scourge of corruption which resulted in the investigation of judges leading to their resignation and retirement is a cause of these perceptions.”

    Dada said that Nigeria had enough “weapons” at her disposal to combat and degrade corruption, adding “we must appreciate and realise that without battles, there will be no victories.”

    Also speaking at the lecture, Prof. Omotoye Olorode, a lecturer at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun, said that privatisation of the country’s national assets was the greatest form of corruption.

    Oloyode, in his keynote address entitled, “Corruption in Nigeria, Judiciary, Law: A Political Economy of Private Economy”, said: “Privatisation which is the looting of public property is the ultimate corruption.

    “There is a political corruption of the Nigerian public by the ruling class, it is unsurprising to see the charade by political party corruption play out in the judiciary.

    “Privatisation is the ultimate looting programme; one of the diseases of the populace is the forced amnesia imposed on the populace which makes them forget all that has happened to them.”

    Olorode accused the ruling class of flagrant disobedience of court orders particularly when their positions of leadership came under threat.

    “The war against corruption is a political action, we have to ask ourselves who are leading the war, is it the political class or the populace ?”

    The Chairman of the occasion, Pa Tunji Gomez, in his address, enjoined lawyers to avoid corrupt practices.

    “Lawyers are in every facet of this country and the positions of lawyers are very important. We must have a code of conduct that abhors corruption.”

    Gomez, a lawyer who once represented Chief Obafemi Awolowo during his 56 years of legal practice, noted that corruption had infiltrated every aspect of Nigerian society.

    “We are a society of corruption, the judges, lawyers, the police and the military are corrupt.

    “Curing a society of corruption starts with the people, we the people must stage this fight,” Gomez said.

    In his address of welcome, Mr Adeshina Ogunlana, the Chairman, Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Ikeja Branch, noted that the late Fawehinmi was passionate about the annual lecture.

    “Fawehinmi embraced the programme and he passionately supported it during his lifetime.

    “He made provisions for the annual programme in his will before he passed on and support for this programme was paid promptly by the executors of his estate.

    “Due to his support, the NBA has been hosting this programme for 12 unbroken years since 2005,” Ogunlana said.

  • Judicial Shakeup: Justice Abang should be sacked, not redeployed – Fayose

    Judicial Shakeup: Justice Abang should be sacked, not redeployed – Fayose

     

    Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State has said Justice Okon Abang who was recently redeployed along with ten orders from Abuja division of the court to Asaba, should have been fired out rightly from the judiciary.

    He said Abang should have been removed from the bench for constantly delivering controversial rulings.

    Recall that Justice Abang gave the judgment which sacked Abia State Governor Okezie Ikpeazu last year. The appellate court reversed the decision.

    He also gave the judgment on which the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) based his decision to substitute Eyitayo Jegede with Jimoh Ibrahim as the candidate of the PDP during the governorship election in Ondo State.

    According to Fayose, “for a judge like Okon Abang, whose judgements were described as fraudulent and rape on democracy by Justices of the Appeal Court, what he deserved is outright sack, not transfer.

    “If the appellate court could go to the extent of saying that he (Abang) embarked on a wild goose chase, spoke from both sides of his mouth and acted like Father Christmas, in saner climes, such a judge does not deserve a place in the judiciary.

    “To us, Justice Abang is nothing but a cancer that is capable of destroying the judiciary and by extension the entire country if he is allowed to continue as a judge. He should be shown the exit door from the judiciary.”