'Your glory, O Israel, lies slain on your
heights.
How the mighty have fallen!,
TELL IT NOT IN GATH,
proclaim it not in the streets of Ashkelon,
lest the daughters of the Philistines be glad,
lest the daughters of the uncircumcised
rejoice.'
2 Samuel 1: 17-20
Since last week, the Lagos State Judiciary
as well as the Bar in Lagos State have been in a mourning mood. The cause was
the sudden news of the compulsory retirement of Honourable Justice Oluyinka
Gbajabiamila from the High Bench of Lagos State by his employer, the National
Judicial Council.
The sack of Justice Gbajabiamila threw the
Lagos legal community into mourning because the affected Judge enjoys an all
round reputation as an INCORRUPTIBLE Judge. Quiet, gentle soft- spoken, polite
and patient in person and in court, Gbajabiamila J. is considered a “nice and decent Judge.” Nevertheless
the National Judicial Council after considering and determining a strongly
worded petition authored by a Senior
Advocate of Nigeria, C.A Candide Johnson who in the main alleged:
(a) that judge Gbajabiamila J. persisted
in hearing a matter before his court dispute having done and proper notice to a
pending application for story of execution and that an appeal has been lodge.
(b) that Judge Gbajabiamila J. delivered judgement
in a matter before him, twenty-two months after counsel had adopted their
written addresses.
(c) that the court registrar of Justice Gbajabiamila, under the direction of
the Judge, misrepresented to the Deputy sheriff by way of memo, that there was
no appeal in the matter, whereas two notices
of appeal and two summons to settle records in the Courts file exist;
decided against the judge.
The National Judicial Council in finding
merit in the allegations levelled against the Judge recommended his compulsory
retirement to the Lagos State Governor and pending when the Governor will act
on the recommendation, she ordered the immediate suspension of the judge from
duty.
Majority of legal practitioners who
interacted with SQUIB over the Justice Gbajabiamila case expressed shock at the
fate which had befallen the judex, and wished that the sanctions would be lifted
or reduced. Such practitioners were moved by the fact that Gbajabiamila J had
zero reputation for corruption or being otherwise compromised in the discharge
of his duties-only few other judges in
the state enjoy such a high level of pristine reputation
Lamented one sympathising counsel: “Alas,
what a strange world we are! Dry and dead trees survive storms while the wet
and the living ones fall down or are uprooted. Why should it be a judge like Gbajabiamila
who will be forced from service? He is such a honest, upright Judge. Yes he may
have made mistakes but which Judges don’t? They say he did not deliver judgment
within three months, in that case almost all judges are guilty of that, at least
in Lagos State, since they are over worked generally”
Another sympathizer accused the NJC of
partiality and inconsistency in the treatment meted to Gbagabiamila J. Said the
lawyer (names with held):
'So it is Gbajabiamila that can be
compulsory retired by the NJC? That’s not fair, was it not the same NJC that
allowed a much worse case: Ofili Ajumogobia to remain on the bench just a few
weeks ago? Or was the accusation against Ofili-Ajumogobia not that she failed
to determine a case challenging the holding of a seat by an elected lawmaker in
the legislature of Ogun state until the expiration of the life of that assembly?'
On the other hand, there were a few legal
practitioners who contended that the NJC acted well in compulsorily retiring
Justice Gbajabiamila. According to such lawyers, the Judge though inversally
acknowledged as honest and a judge of integrity is however slow, indolent and
guilty of colouring Judicial duties with his religions sentiments and
perspectives.
Said one of such lawyers - “People
should stop defending the indefensible. What was wrong in the retirement of a
Judge who sits only two or three times a week and behave more like a pastor
then a Judge? He is even too slow in adjudication and you hardly get your cases
completed in his court in good time. Those supporting him should remember that
this is not a case of witch hunting. Is it true or not that twenty-two months
passed after written addresses had been adopted before he delivered ruling or
judgement?”
Hon Justice Oluyinka Gbajabiamila
formerly a Muslim, now a Christian cleric with the Redeemed Christian Church of
God was called to the Bench in 2001 and was one of a set of Judges known as the
'Millennium Judges' in the Lagos State Judiciary, on account of the significance
of the year of their appointment.
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