The All Progressives Congress (APC)
has reiterated its earlier call for the arrest and prosecution of the Ekiti
State Governor-elect Ayodele Fayose for leading a band of thugs to attack
Justice Adeyeye on the premises of the State High Court on Sept. 25th, warning
that failure to act decisively now would spell danger for Judges and the
nation’s democracy.
In a statement issued in London on
Thursday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party
said the issue of the security of Judges and the unfettered administrative of
justice transcends politics, hence no politician, no matter his status, must be
allowed to go scot-free after attacking Judges
It said any delay in taking action
will see Fayose assume office, meaning he can no longer be arrested and
prosecuted for what is an egregious contempt of court.
“Now that the Chief Judge of Ekiti has confirmed, in a petition
to the National Judicial Council (NJC), that Fayose was complicit in the
attack, the NJC should treat the issue expeditiously by taking a decisive
action that will make it very costly for anyone to ever attack a Judge again.
The need to act is urgent so that no Judge gets killed simply because some
powerful personality does not like his or her ruling.
“Had the relevant authorities acted
with dispatch when another court in the same state was invaded by pro-Fayose
thugs earlier the same week, the attack on Justice Adeyeye would have been
averted.”
APC said the attack on Judges in Ekiti has also reinforced the call in some quarters, on the basis of constitutional provisions, to subject candidates seeking political offices in the country to psychiatric tests, to prevent people with mental imbalance from taking over the affairs of state
The party said those who are
trivializing the issue and trying to play dirty politics with it should take a
moment to think of what Fayose will do to the Judges whom he led thugs to beat
up, when he assumed office as Governor of the state.
APC said no decent society will
tolerate attack on Judges, which is not just a threat to the administration of
justice but also a clear and present danger to democracy itself
The party recalled that not even
during the chaotic political crisis in the then Western region, which earned it
the tag ‘Wild Wild West’, were Judges beaten up like Fayose and his thugs did
in Ekiti.
“Only in Idi Amin’s Uganda can one
recall, in recent memory, that this kind of attack happened. In 1972, the
Ugandan Chief Justice was murdered by Idi Amin’s agents, after the then
President publicly criticized the Judge’s ruling. Later, the President of the
country’s Industrial Courts was also killed why lawyers were routinely beaten
up.
“We do not want the buffoons who
have found themselves in power in Ekiti and elsewhere in Nigeria to take us to
those days of buffoonery, days of anarchy as witnessed in Uganda and
elsewhere,” it said.
APC also called on the
Inspector-General of Police to sanction the policemen who stood idly by as
thugs were attacking Judges, lawyers, litigants and others, saying the police
must always carry out its constitutional duties no matter which politician is
flouting the law.
The party also appealed to the
Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) to take the lead in ensuring that those behind
the senseless attack on Judges in Ekiti are made to face the full wrath of the
law, irrespective of their status in the society.
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