A Federal High Court in Abuja has restrained the Governor of Ondo State, the state House of Assembly, the Attorney General, and three others from taking further steps in relation to the alleged probe of the state Chief Judge, Justice Oluwatoyin Akeredolu over a viral video made by one Olupelumi Fagboyegun.
Justice Inyang Ekwo gave the order on Thursday in a ruling on an ex-parte application filed by Justice Akeredolu, who alleged, among others that the decision by the state government, through the former Attorney General, Charles Titiloye, to refer the allegations made against her and the state’s judiciary by Fagboyegun in the viral video to the House of Assembly for investigation, was an illegal act designed to remove her from office.
Justice Ekwo equally barred the Attorney General of the Federation, the National Judicial Council, and the Inspector General of Police from acting on any report submitted to them by the Ondo State government pending the determination of the main suit.
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In the suit filed by Jibrin Okutepa, SAN on behalf of the Ondo chief judge, Oluwatoyin Akeredolu, the plaintiff averred that the Ondo State Governor, the state Attorney General and the House of Assembly lacked the power under the Constitution to investigate the Chief Judge for any allegation of professional misconduct.
While moving the application, Okutepa noted that the Ondo Attorney General had, after claiming to have investigated Fagboyegun’s allegation, without hearing from the Chief Judge, made public a report where he said he found that Fagboyegun was granted bail on March 18, 2018, when he was arraigned before the Magistrate Court and was never detained as he claimed.
In a supporting affidavit, the plaintiff claimed that after the video by Fagboyegun was allegedly published online, the then-Attorney General of Ondo State said he investigated the claim by Fagboyegun that the Chief Judge instigated his detention for three years and found the claim to be false.
Justice Akeredolu said the Ondo State governor, the Attorney General, and the House of Assembly has vowed to remove her from her office as Chief Judge on the trumped-up allegations being sponsored on social media as aforesaid and her right to a fair hearing is likely to be contravened by the defendants, (except the NJC) unless the court intervenes.
Editor: Oloyede Oworu
