|
untitled
Last Updated: Friday, November 12th, 2004 HOME | Previous Page
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lam endorses removal of Oyo CJ
By Sola Shittu
Reporter, Ibadan
Immediate past governor of Oyo State, Alhaji Lam Adesina, has thrown his weight behind the removal of former Chief
Judge of Oyo State, Justice Isaiah Olakanmi, saying he would have done the same thing if he had remained in office.
Speaking in Ibadan on Thursday, Adesina dismissed insinuations that Olakanmi�s removal was politically motivated.
�I tell you, it�s not because Alliance for Democracy government appointed him that he was removed. I was tempted
to present his case for removal to the House before I left office for the same offence that Ladoja now removed
him for,� said Lam.
According to him, if not for his own political maturity, the former chief judge would have been removed long ago
because the offence he was sanctioned for by the present administration was actually detected by his own administration.
�It came to a stage, the judges under him were sending words to us that the executive was making them to suffer
because we did not release money. When I got the information I asked the attorney general then, why not talk to
the chief judge, the judges are complaining that government did not take care of them,� said Lam.
Adesina also stated that at a point, the former chief judge and some of the judges were invited to meet him to
resolve the matter.
�They came to me, my deputy was there, the attorney general was there. Then I asked him why were judges complaining.
Are we not giving you money? And the money you received from Abuja is deducted from my own allocation. That is
apart from the one we budgeted for Oyo State judiciary. I asked him to present the account of all the expenses
and the money received,� he added.
Lam added that because he felt so disappointed, he told him and the registrar to go and clean up the account.
�But instead of tidying up the account, the chief was busy going about saying my government was bad,� he said.
Adesina then insisted that the removal of Justice Olakanmi has nothing to do with politics but that the offence
was committed and that the National Judicial Council did not read the constitution correctly by declaring that
the governor has no right to remove the chief judge.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright© 2004. All Rights Reserved.
Independent Newspapers Limited
Block5, Plot 7D, Wempco Road, Ogba, P.M.B. 21777, Ikeja, Lagos State, Nigeria.
www.independentng.com
e-mail: [email protected]
Designed By
Powered By DNet.
|
|
