By Osagie Otabor, Akure
Ex-Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in Ondo State, Sir Charles Titiloye, has denied accusation that the Chief Judge, Justice Olanrewaju Akeredolu, did not get fair hearing in the report which investigated allegation of injustice by Olupelumi Fagboyegun.
Fagboyegun, half-brother to Justice Akeredolu, had accused her of using her office to deny him justice in a pending criminal court trial.
Sir Titiloye had in the report stopped further hearing of the suit and referred the matter to the Ondo State House of Assembly and the Ondo State Judicial Service Commission.
In a statement issued yesterday evening, Sir Titiloye said he did not violate Section 36 of Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria on right to fair hearing.
He noted that Justice Akeredolu was accorded fair hearing, as the Chief Registrar of the Ondo High Court, Mrs. Ajibade, spoke on her behalf.
He said he did not make any pronouncement against Justice Akeredolu or determined her rights and obligation throughout the report as well as reminded critics that the power of an Attorney General to discontinue a case under Section 211 of the Constitution was not subject to public debate or hearing from affected parties.
According to him, “everybody so far agreed that it is in the public interest to discontinue this case to avoid abuse of court process by keeping Olupelumi Fagboyegun on criminal trial for the fourth year for a simple offence of “conduct likely to breach public peace. “Scarce resources of the state should be deployed in prosecuting violent crimes like murder, armed robbery, kidnapping and rape and not mere misdemeanour offences like conduct ‘LIKELY’.
“In the report I made public, I did mentioned that Mr Olupelumi Fagboyegun complained before the police in his statement that Justice O. O. Akeredolu “threatened his life and that of his kids”.
The police did not investigate this allegation to date. Rather it sided with the complainant and preferred criminal charge against Olupelumi Fagboyegun for conduct likely to breach peace.
“The era where persons without constitutional immunity will be “above the law” and cannot be subjected to investigation has gone with history. We are in an era where all public office holders and institutions should be accountable for their actions. That is the hallmark of the policy of Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu SAN administration in Ondo State.
“We cannot be fair to the citizens of this country if we shield judicial officers from investigation in their private/public life.”
Leave a Reply