The protest against the Osun State Chief Judge, Adepele Ojo, by the members of the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria in Osun State continued on Tuesday, even as the Chief Registrar of the state High Court, Mr Ishola Omisade, appeared before the House of Assembly Committee on Judiciary probing the allegations against the Chief Judge.
The Chief Registrar was escorted to the Assembly by some magistrates on Tuesday afternoon, as the lawmakers commenced a probe into some of the allegations against the Chief Judge.
Also sighted at the Assembly were about 12 staff members of the high court working in the Affidavit Office and Salary Section.
As of 4.30 pm when our correspondent left the premises of the House of Assembly, the staff were still being attended to by the lawmakers.
When contacted for details on what transpired during the interaction, the Chief Press Secretary to the Speaker of the Osun Assembly, Tiamiyu Olamide, declined comment.
When asked if the Chief Registrar and other staff of the high court appeared before the House, Tiamiyu simply said, “Some people appeared and more will appear but I don’t know their designations and where they are from.
“The committee is working round the clock to complete the investigation within the period given to them by the House of Assembly.”
Meanwhile, for the second day running, the leadership of the JUSUN in the state paralysed activities at the state High Court in Osogbo, as they prevented movement onto the premises of the court.
Speaking with The PUNCH, the JUSUN Chairman in the state, Gbenga Eludire, said the union will be meeting with some judges on Wednesday.
He expressed hope that some of the demands of the group would be discussed and met after the meeting.
He said, “Our judges spoke to us today, they interacted with us and possibly tomorrow (Wednesday), we are going to have a meeting point, where our issues will be looked into and possibly attended to. It is our hope that tomorrow’s meeting will yield a positive result.”
Meanwhile, members of the dissolved Osun State Judicial Service Commission on Tuesday alleged that Governor Ademola Adeleke sacked them to pave the way for the removal of the Chief Judge.
In a statement signed by Messrs Rotimi Makinde and Tomi Olagbaju on behalf of the other members of the commission, they described their removal before the disbanded expiration of their five-year tenure as “an act of executive recklessness.”
The group said, “When the state government could not find the CJ pliable to execute their devious plan and consequently could not find anything incriminating against the CJ, since all approvals from her office to our commission went through due process of law, the governor believed the best strategy to adopt is to disband us and bring in ductile characters, even when our tenure still remains four years.
“It is strange that a government which has become a butt of jokes and comedy in the comity of states over unending financial infraction, recently being its inability to justify the over N130bn revenue accrued to it in the last one year and failure to account for N10bn extra budget for food and entertainment inserted in the supplementary budget of the state governor, is the one devoting its energy to sack a Chief Judge over ridiculous and puerile N5m graft claim. Where does the government derive powers to investigate and punish a Chief Judge? Such powers reside in the National Judicial Council.”
When contacted for a response, the Osun State Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Kolapo Alimi, said, “Since they have approached the court, they should wait for the outcome of the case.”
