Posted by By AKEEB ALARAPE, IBADAN on
Two months to his retirement, the newly appointed Acting Chief Judge [ACJ] of Oyo State, Justice Afolabi Adeniran, may have courted trouble for granting an order that quashed the indictment of the state governor, Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala, by an Administrative Panel of Inquiry set up by the former governor of the state, Senator Rashidi Ladoja.
Two months to his retirement, the newly appointed Acting Chief Judge [ACJ] of Oyo State, Justice Afolabi Adeniran, may have courted trouble for granting an order that quashed the indictment of the state governor, Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala, by an Administrative Panel of Inquiry set up by the former governor of the state, Senator Rashidi Ladoja.
At an extra-ordinary meeting of the Ibadan branch of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), it was unanimously agreed that henceforth, no lawyer should appear before the ACJ pending the reaction of the National Judicial Council (NJC) on Adeniran's alleged misconduct.
Not only this, the lawyers also resolved to start treating Adeniran like a leper by staying off any function where the embattled ACJ is invited as a guest while the body of lawyers decided to stop inviting him (Adeniran) to any of its function.
Addressing a press conference at the end of the extra-ordinary meeting, Vice-Chairman of Ibadan NBA, Lukman Laoye, told newsmen that members of the NBA were disturbed by the action of ACJ in allowing secret filing of court processes in his chambers.
He said: "The conduct of the Acting Chief Judge in entertaining the case which had initially been thrown out by a court of coordinate jurisdiction is condemnable.
"His conduct in allowing his chamber to be turned into a court registry is also condemnable," Laoye stated.
He pointed out that the NBA observed that Adeniran played similar role during the impeachment saga of former Governor Ladoja when he set up the kangaroo panel that investigated the alleged impeachable offences of Ladoja, despite visible irregularities in the impeachment procedures.
"Members of the Ibadan branch of NBA resolved at the meeting to start boycott of the Acting Chief Judge's court as from Monday (tomorrow)."
While condemning the recent removal of the former Acting Chief Judge of the state, John Olagoke Ige by Governor Alao-Akala, the NBA disclosed that it had written the state governor to stop interfering in the activities of the state judiciary.
Laoye disclosed that the aggrieved lawyers also decided to write a letter to the National Judicial Council (NJC) on the misconduct of Adeniran, adding that the planned boycott of Adeniran's court would continue until the NJC reacts to their complaints.
It would be recalled that the ACJ granted an order quashing the indictment of Governor Alao-Akala by the panel of Inquiry set up to look into the award of some contracts in the state when he held fort for his boss during the 11 months impeachment saga.
Four separate courts had thrown out the application brought by Akala's counsel on the ground that due process were not followed in filing the application. The failure of Akala to get the panel report quashed led to the sack of Ige as Acting Chief judge of the state while Afolabi was returned in his stead. Two days after his resumption as ACJ, Afolabi assumed jurisdiction of the case and granted Akala's prayers at a tension-soaked court sitting that prolonged till late afternoon of last Friday.