The All Progressives Congress APC in Oyo state has taken a swipe at Governor Seyi Makinde over his alleged penchant for disregarding the judiciary arm of government and thus undermining the cause of constitutional democracy and the sanctity of the courts in both the state and at the federal level stating that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the National Assembly should call the governor to order.
The opposition APC lamented that Gov. Makinde had always acted like a civilian despot as he failed to show respect for the separation of Power among the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary in a constitutional democracy.
In a statement issued at the weekend and made available to the journalists in Ibadan by its Publicity Secretary, Olawale Sadare, Oyo APC alleged that judges and judicial officials in the employ of the state received the least allowances even as they were being denied certain rights and privileges which they deserved for them to discharge their duties optimally.
“Nigerians will not forget in a hurry how Gov. Makinde made a mince meat of the Supreme Court judgment which declared the sack of elected council officials by him in 2019 as an abuse of power and illegal.
“Recently, the same governor openly came out to fault the verdict of the Apex Court which reestablished financial autonomy to the third tier of government and up till today, people like Makinde are still frustrating the implementation of the judgment by the federal government.
“In Oyo state today, Grade “C” Customary Courts and Rent Courts have been on a long term holiday because the governor does not see any need for their existence and operation.
“For this simple reason, Magistrate Courts are congested as Magistrates have had to combine cases such as marital disputes, landlord versus tenant disagreement and so on. Even the Grade “A” Customary Courts which was put in place by the state government cannot function properly due to non-availability of courtrooms and logistics.
“It is an open secret that Oyo state cannot boast of adequate number of judges to preside over the available courtrooms as feelers also have it that there about 10 pending appointments to fill the vacancies created by retirement of some judges as appropriate but since the state government is not ready to act as necessary, the National Judicial Council (NJC) cannot approve the appointment of new capable hands.
“For the record, the NJC officials who visited the state in 2023 and 2024 left with sad tales of neglect by the state government and this further dented the image of the state.” APC added.
