allAfrica.com: Nigeria: 'Akala's Rascality Cause of Oyo Judicial Crisis' (Page 1 of 3)

Recent developments in the Oyo State Judiciary have raised concerns across the entire Nigerian Bar. The National Judicial Council has made very strong pronouncements on the lingering crisis. Now the Nigerian Bar Association, Ibadan Branch has actually demanded the arrest of the Acting Chief Judge, Justice Isaiah Olakanmi. Would you subscribe to such move?

Undoubtedly, I support the decision of the Ibadan Branch of the NBA to request for the arrest of the former Chief Judge of Oyo State. Certainly he is no longer a judge.

Based on the pronouncement of the National Judicial Council?

Not just the NJC pronouncement. That is where people are getting the whole thing wrong. The House of Assembly by the address to the Governor, when Ladoja was still the Governor and Akala was Deputy Governor, under provisions of the Constitution, had removed the gentleman. He is no longer a judicial officer!

The only reason NJC came into this matter is that NJC made it point clear that except that resolution of the House on which the Governor acted on is reversed by a court of law, he ceases to be a judicial officer. That is what the NJC said, that they won't recognise him as a judicial officer. If the Governor now comes and says a new House has revisited the matter, do they have such powers under the Constitution? They don't! The only power they have is to recommend dismissal. They don't have the power to revisit it; but unfortunately for him, there is no way a new Assembly can reverse the decision of the older one. That is what many people do not know.

You have to study and understand the rules of the various legislative houses. What the new house did was ultra vires their powers. They don't have such powers. Such a decision can only be reversed through judicial means. If there is a judicial pronouncement that says the Governor acted in error or the House did not do what they were supposed to do then the matter can be revisited. It's just like impeachment. It's only the court that can say it is wrongful and illegal.

If a court of competent jurisdiction decides that the House was wrong in recommending Olakanmi for removal, then the NJC or NBA would not interfere with it. There is nothing wrong in his coming back for as long as it is a pronouncement of court. The scenario you have just painted is very complex. As of last week Olakanmi was still sitting and adjudicating on cases before him as if nothing had happened. How would you reconcile that with what you've just said?

It is true. All he is doing is illegal. That is why we in Ibadan Branch felt that we should look at our criminal law. If anybody purports to sit as a Judge when he is not a judicial officer, it is a crime under the Oyo State Criminal Law. That is why we have called on the police to arrest the man and prosecute him! He is not a judicial officer!

He is now putting litigants and other lawyers under some stress. There is no judgment you'll get from his court that you can sustain. It would all be a nullity!

What do you have to say about lawyers who appear before him despite the NJC sanction?

It is unfortunate. A number of lawyers are also under pressure. I also don't see why they should succumb to such pressure. Even then, such lawyers are few and far between. Most lawyers don't attend that court. A few lawyers may have gone to his court prior to the NJC publication in the papers. It's the first time that kind of thing would happen. The facts of the case were being distorted. The Oyo State Government was selling lies to the public, so there was no way the NJC would not have come out to publish a paid advert in the pages of newspapers to explain their own position. The few lawyers who went there initially believed the lies of the Oyo State Government. The Oyo State Government was saying, 'It is not true. The NJC has not written to us.' But the NJC has come out to state the facts, point by point, in the newspapers. I don't expect any other lawyer to go there. The NJC has said very clearly that the man is not a judicial officer. It's like me going before somebody who is not a lawyer and say I am pleading my case. You are wasting your time! Whatever you get there would all be a nullity. You cannot enforce such a judgment.

The NJC hammer also fell on another Judge, Justice Iyabo Yerima; what would be her fate given this complex scenario?

Yerima's case is an unfortunate development. I recollect very well in one of the Judges' conferences recently, the Chief Justice of Nigeria made that point very clearly, that a number of our Governors today do not want to respect the decisions of NJC. It's an unfortunate development because the Constitution vests in the NJC, the power of discipline. There is no discretion in the powers of a Governor to refuse discipline of the Judges. Once the NJC makes a pronouncement in respect of a judicial officer, the Governor has no discretion. Its only when a Chief Judge is involved that the matter is referred to the House of Assembly. The law is very clear. In respect of Iyabo Yerima, the NJC took a decision, but the Governor refused to act. So, the NJC said, 'well, since the Governor has refused to act, we the NJC have pronounced you retired.'

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