VOL 13 NO 5 14-01-13
When it was time for
Honorable Justice Inumidun Akande former Chief-Judge to bow out from office in
June 2012, upon attaining the age of 65 years, she crossed to the Retirement
glade in grand and unprecedented style.
Not for his Lordship,
the common route of the customary valedictory session at the foyer of the Lagos
High court, rather her exit took the form of a diligently executed and
elaborate departure ritual, and a well put together written and audio-visual
record of her various achievements in office.
Strong willed,
quick-witted combatively turf protective but paradoxically shy and soft-hearted
woman, Akande C.J was, not without her ‘enemies’ in and outside the Judiciary
where she was the leader 2009 – 2012.
Despite the pomp and
pageantry that attended her orchestrated departure from the Lagos State Judiciary,
her nay-sayers believed that all her assertive campaign for the independence of
the Judiciary and the consequent clamorous clash with the Executive or more
specifically the Ministry of Justice was equivalent to the coy salaaming of the
house-cat which is but a ruse to make off with the meat.
Squib investigation revealed
that prior to her eventual departure in
June 2012, a petition against his lordship was filed by a certain Segun Oke,
president of a nebulous organization called Centre For Corruption Free Nation
(CCFN) to the chairman of the Economic and financial Crimes Commission
(See Cover Story Exhibit 1)
The petitioner alleged
in the main that Inumidun Akande C.J is guilty of “gross misapplication and
misappropriation of judiciary fund. The specifics of the allegation is that as
Chief Judge (a) Akande short-changed her brother judges on overseas training to
illegally and fraudulently reduce their transport and accommodation estacodes
and (b) she handed down only 15 million naira to each judge of the state
judiciary instead of twenty million naira that was approved by the government
for the renovation of the house of the jurists.
The Squib
authoritatively learnt that even though the petition turned out to be from an
anonymous source and provides scanty details to back the very serious
allegations of fraud, the EFCC considered it a veritable platform to take up
Chief Judge particularly after leaving the office.
Hitherto the commission
had been interacting with the Chief Registrar who is actually the accounting
officer of the Judiciary, but once out of office, the sleuths came after
Akande, Ex-C. J
When the news reached
the Judiciary that the former Chief Judge had been invited over by the EFCC for
grilling, the Squib learnt that, the development was greeted with great delight
by some of her colleagues still in service who detested her leadership as it
appeared that “Samson was going down”. There was a whispering campaign in high
quarters that “Madam Separation of Power (MSP) despite all her grand-standing
is a thief after-all”.
However it turned out
that the gloating was premature as the fire to roast the supposedly supine and
helpless former Chief Judge failed to kindle. The fuel on the ‘pyre’
of the ex-chief judge turned out to be water!
The Squib learnt that
in response to the annexure-less one and half pages petition, a deeply stung
Akande C.J turned in material of nearly sixty pages, an exhaustive defence of
her position that she was free of all accusations of fraud and misappropriation
of funds. Please see cover story Exhibit 2.
The Squib has further
learnt that the EFCC in order to complete investigation in the matter is
considering interview all the judges, 38 in number whom are the beneficiaries
of the Renovation of Building grant or allocation released by the Governor of
Lagos State and whom the petitioner has alleged have been defrauded by their
former Chief.
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