Group Cautions Oyo Govt Over Implementation Of NJC Report On Judges

Eric Ikhilae, Lagos - 29.03.2008

Oyo State Government has been advised against implementing the recent report by the National Judicial Council (NJC) indicting two judges in the state for alleged misconduct.

A group, Concerned Legal Practitioners of Nigeria (CLPN), which gave this advice yesterday, expressed doubt over the sincerity of the the panel which investigated allegations made against the judges.

The group, in a statement made available to the Nigerian Tribune in Lagos on Tuesday, claimed that the indicted judges were not accorded fair hearing as they were denied ample opportunity to defend themselves.

The NJC had, upon receiving some petition against Justices Afolabi Adeniran and Iyabo Yerima of the Oyo State Judiciary last year, instituted investigating panels to probe allegations of misconduct made against them.

In their reports, the panel recommended the dismissal of the judges, a recommendation which the state was yet to implement.

President of the group, Mr. Adewole Mustapha, who signed the statement, said his group's advice to the state government was informed by its suspicion that the indictment of the said judges was premeditated.

he group also queried the objectivity of the panel’s members, wondering why one sat in Ibadan and the other sat in Abuja when the alleged misconducts complained about would have taken place where the judge sits.

It also queried the authenticity of a group called Committee for the Defence of the Rule of Law, which was one of the bodies that allegedly petitioned NJC and "wrongly accused the said judges".

It added that checks conducted by her members in Ibadan showed that the group was a faceless one being used by some individuals to create trouble in Oyo Judiciary.

CLPN asked the Oyo state government to urge the NJC to conduct fresh probe into the allegations made against the said judges with a view to unraveling the true intent of the petitioners.