How Osun Judicial Workers' Strike Backfired Against Adeleke's Government.......Adegboruwa's Submissions Are Germane - Osun APC

The Osun State chapter of All Progressives Congress (APC) has cautioned Governor Ademola Adeleke to desist from treating ringworm when it's obvious to all and sundry that his administration is being plagued by leprosy which amounts to self-destruction.

It would be recalled that Governor Adeleke announced last week the willingness of his administration to end the over three-month-old lingering strike of the state chapter of the judicial workers over the tenure of the state Chief Judge, Justice Adepele Ojo, when it was audible to the deaf, visible to the blind and even tangible to the idiots that the Adeleke administration has been the promoter and sponsor of the strike in order to get at the state Chief Judge.

A renowned and astute constitutional lawyer, Mr Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa SAN, last week, raised some germane legal issues in his article on the constitutional lacunae created in how Governor Adeleke has been illegally governing Osun State without the judicial arm of the government in full operation.

In his remark, the 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, today, frankly told Adeleke that his 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 to end the over three months old judicial staff industrial strike which has paralysed all the courts in the state immediately Adegboruwa SAN pointed out the copious unconstitutional activities of Adeleke 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.

Lawal explained that it is incontrovertible according to Adegboruwa that: "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 extra-ordinary 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.

"It is sad , disheartening and worrisome that Governor Adeleke has been governing Osun State without the judicial arm of government in full operation.

"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.

"The intendment of the framers of the constitution with the provision of Section 4(8) is that there shall be no dictatorship of any kind in governance. Laws made by the legislature must always be subject to the jurisdiction of the court, so too (are) the actions of the executive.

"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.

"Can a state purport to have an Appropriation Bill that does not  reflect the estimates of the judiciary?If the judiciary in Osun State will not be allowed to function for whatever reason, then the remaining two arms of government have no justification to continue to remain in the office for the exercise of illegal actions.

"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," the legal luminary had submitted.

Corroborating his 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 further 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 promised to end the strike and not his genuine  love for the people of the state.

e-SIGNED:

Sooko TAJUDEEN LAWAL,       Chairman, Osun State APC.