Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has cautioned Governor Ademola Adeleke to desist from allegedly frustrating the State Judiciary
The governor had last week met with the JUSUN leaders urging them to resolve all pending matters and resume work .
Also, a constitutional lawyer, Mr Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa SAN, last week, raised some legal issues in his article on the constitutional lacunae created in how Governor Adeleke has been alleged;y illegally governing Osun State without the judicial arm of the government in full operation.
Osun State chairman of the APC, Sooko Tajudeen Lawal, in a statement issued by the party’s Director of Media and Information, Chief Kola Olabisi on Sunday said Adeleke’s administration would not be devoid of challenges as long as he is running the government as his private enterprise with its headquarters in his family’s Ede country home.
Lawal queried Adeleke why he hurriedly announced his willingness to be instrumental in ending the over three months old judicial staff industrial strike which has paralysed all the courts in the state immediately Adegboruwa SAN pointed out his copious unconstitutional activities through the state JUSUN endless strike last week.
The state APC chairman stated that his party wholeheartedly identified with all the submissions of the legal luminary about the ongoing strike of Osun State judicial staff.
Corroborating Adegboruwa’s position, the APC chairman said: “I do not see how Governor Adeleke can continue and govern Osun State effectively and legally without the courts of law established for the state by the constitution. It is an aberration that must not be allowed to fester because what is left is anarchy and lawlessness”.
He noted that from the submissions above, it was clear that Governor Adeleke allowed and encouraged the sustainability of the strike of the judicial staff in Osun State without knowing its debilitating effects on his administration, thinking that he was punishing the state Chief Judge.
Lawal added that it was the likely effects of the strike on the continuity of his government that prompted Adeleke to back down and promise to end the strike and not his genuine love for the people of the state.
Adegboruwa had submitted: “In the event of failure, inability or unwillingness by the Osun State Governor Adeleke to restore law and order in the state by opening the courts for the performance of their constitutional functions, Section 304(1) C-F of the Constitution permits the President to declare a state of emergency in any state of the Federation where there is clear and present danger of an actual breakdown of public order and public safety requiring extraordinary measures to avert danger.
“There cannot be public order or public safety in any part of the Federation such as Osun State where the entire judiciary is shut down and there are no lawful means to resolve grievances by the public.
“Even when the military took power through the coup d’etat, the courts were left intact. Never in the history of our nation have we had to contend with a situation whereby the courts are locked up perpetually.
“It is apparent that this is not the case in Osun State today because of the strike embarked upon by the judicial workers over the tenure of office of the Chief Judge of the state. If anyone is arrested in Osun State today, he stands to remain in custody, whether such arrest is lawful or not.
“The executive arm of the government in Osun State is running riot, ruling without the judicial arm when it is trite in law that no government should be allowed to function without the courts as that will encourage lawlessness and dictatorship.
“The House of Assembly in Osun State cannot also exist without the judicial arm of the government as laws being enacted must be subject to the interpretation of the court.
“I have wondered how Governor Adeleke was able to present the 2024 budget estimate to the House of Assembly without the input of the Judiciary of Osun State, the Chief Judge being the Chief executive of that indispensable arm of government.
“By the Public Officers Protection Law of Osun State, for instance, certain actions can only be challenged within three months of their occurrence otherwise, the cause of action becomes statute barred.
“The strike action by the Osun State judicial workers has lasted well over three months now, thereby rendering certain actions of the government beyond judicial inquiry which is unacceptable.
“The true interpretation of Section 4(8) of the nation’s Constitution is that it is illegal for there to be a governor or Speaker of the House of Assembly in any state where there is no judiciary or where the judiciary is not allowed to exercise its statutory functions of interrogating the actions, laws and policies of the other arms of government,”
