Following the devastating attack on the Osun State High Court in Ilesa by arsonists, which left courtrooms and the registry in ruins, the Attorney-General of the state, Barrister Oluwole Jimi-Bada, accompanied by other state executives, conducted an inspection of the damage on Tuesday.
The Nation reported that the police launched an investigation after arsonists set fire to the courtroom and registry on Sunday evening.
Governor Ademola Adeleke expressed concern over the destruction of vital legal documents in the inferno.
During the inspection, Barrister Jimi-Bada, along with other officials, assessed the damage caused by the fire. Speaking after the visit, the Attorney-General expressed his dismay over the inadequate security at the court, noting that this was not the first time the facility had been targeted.
“We need to secure this place because this is not the first time it has happened,” Jimi-Bada said. “My brother, the commissioner, informed me that the former Court II was attacked and burned in 2017.”
“Also, last year, they carted away electric cables from this court. All these nonsense had to stop, we will start almost immediately, we cannot abandoned the court, the judge can not sit. We have to also prioritise the security of this place, so no matter what we do they will still come, so we need to secure here. We should work on the solar pending the time we will work on the cable. We will start almost immediately.”
He continued, “The challenge we have before as a government, we are trying to be careful, the budget was in the budget of the judiciary but when their was no memo to the governor for approval for renovation of all the courts, the governor can not say he wants to do it.
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“What we done at the Ministry of Justice is to make provision for this renovation which we are going to start. We will try to see what we can do with our 2025 budget, we not need to wait for judiciary to bring memo, if we are waiting, no memo will be brought, we can not wait. That is why we brought engineers from Ministry of work, we are going to work on the entire compound.
“From the running cost of the judiciary, security have been made provision for but there is no security and as government we are going to work on it.”
Speaking about the incessant attack on the court, he described it as ‘unfortunate’ saying, “I wonder why somebody will have the effrontery, the impunity to come to the court of law and set it ablaze, I am bothered and amaze at that kind of boldness.
“As government, Mr Governor called my attention to it, he sent me to come and asses it. We are going to start with Ilesa High Court to renovate the entire court and then we look at other divisions. We are going to secure the court and start renovation.”