Adeleke’s sledge hammer on Osun Judiciary

By Sodiq Lawal Chocomilo

I’m not a diviner. The last article I wrote about the Adeleke administration’s appointment of a ‘newbie’ as Speaker of the House of Assembly and its insistence that only a ranking member from the governor’s home city of Ede would be in the leadership positions of the assembly, I also posited that the legislature would not be the only target of abuse of political authority and procedure.

In the piece’s conclusion, I posed the question “Whose establishment or arm will fall to the Adelekes next?” Stop asking questions. the judiciary is already on fire.

Just two weeks after Dr. Rahmon Adedoyin was given a death by hanging sentence by Justice Adepele Ojo, the Chief Judge of Osun, in connection with the murder of OAU student Timothy Adegoke, certain individuals have begun conspiring to have her removed from office through the Head of Service.

The Chief Judge was scheduled to retire in October of this year, and the Head of Service reportedly met with the Secretary of the Judicial Commission at a crossroads in Osogbo. The HOS reportedly gave the Secretary instructions to obtain the CJ’s departure letter from the commission as allegedly narrated by Yomi Aliyu SAN.

Why is the Chief Judge’s removal from office prior to her retirement month being sought by the administration led by Senator Ademola Adeleke? Is the government unaware that the Constitution has been changed to raise the age at which judges must retire?

Naturally, they are informed. They are aware of the Chief Judge’s impending retirement in October as well as the new legal restrictions on the retirement age. They are also aware of the Osun Assembly’s Standing Order, which prohibits “newbies” from taking the floor while there are ranking members.

According to some sources, Senator Ademola Adeleke is the governor of the state and can therefore oust the head of a different branch of government yet these individuals argued that Nigerian constitution allows any member of the assembly to lead the house when they wanted to install their favorite.

Is this executive rascality what some people have suggested? Does he intend to oust the current Chief Judge in order to install his own candidate as Chief Judge of the judiciary? Is he also scared of the lady Justice’s power and temerity, or is he prepared to exact revenge on her for her ruling in Rahmon Adedoyin’s case, as some have suggested? Where are the answers to these questions?

As a result of Senator Ademola’s abuse of the political authority granted to him by the constitution, the judiciary is now the sufferer. Who will suffer harm next? I ask you.

Recent events have demonstrated that Osun has completely mocked power and government, taking a bus to obscurity. I implore the Osun cabals to steer Senator Ademola Adeleke away from bad choices that, if they are not the ones making them, might lead to a constitutional crisis.

Sodiq Lawal Chocomilo