PETITION ON ABUSE OF OFFICE, MISCARRIAGE OF JUSTICE, MANIPULATION OF THE JUDICIAL PROCESS, VIOLATION OF THE CONSTITUTION AND CORRUPTION AGAINST JUSTICE HABEEB ADEWAlE OLUMUYIWA ABIRU OF THE IKORODU HIGH COURT, LAGOS STATE, NIGERIA.

The allegation against the Lagos State Government came out in the dailies on Thursday, 28 th of January, 2010 and the Lagos State House of Assembly set up a six-man committee to look into the veracity and genuiness of the claims, the Lagos state Government quickly went to court through one of its cronies to halt the legislative process. However, in a desperate bid to cover up their tracks. The Governor and Lagos State Government could not find any willing judge in the Ikeja Division to do its bidding, and Ikeja is not only the Capital of Lagos State, but also where the seat of government is domiciled and where the offences emanated from. They therefore went all the way to Ikorodu to look for a pliable and malleable judge in person of Justice Abiru to use the instrumentality of the law to stall the legislative process that would have exposed unprecedented corruption at the highest level of government in Lagos state. This amounts to abuse of office, because what Justice Abiru has done is to use his exalted and privileged position to wantonly and flagrantly obstruct the course of Justice, which the National Judicial Council must summarily investigate.

We want to recall that not too long ago, Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN) donated some cash to Justice Abiru's NGO, so, Justice Abiru cannot to said to be an uninterested party in the suit, he cannot be said to be fair, firm and perspicacious. Afterall, it is said that one good turn deserves another. Hence, the judgement delivered by Justice Abiru cannot be said to have been written by him, but by a legal team from Government House, Alausa, Ikeja and this is a miscarriage of Justice which the Nigeria Judicial Council must look into promptly.

(IV) In the judgement Justice Abiru delivered, the Judge suddenly became the defence counsel to Governor Fashola, as he went on to fish for evidence and alibi saying that, "the group that made the publication was faceless without any known address or location other than an email address and no document were published in the advertorial to support the allegations". The questions that readily come to mind are (1) Is this the prayer before the court? (2) Is the issue before the court the veracity of the allegations? (3) Where was Justice Abiru when THE TRUE FACE OF LAGOS physically made representation to the Lagos State House of Assembly the day before the last hearing of the court and all the National Dailies used their pictures except Punch where the Executive Director Publications, Mr. Azubuike stopped the editor from using the story on the basis that the allegations were not published in the Journal of the Lagos State House of Assembly, what a co-incidence of judgement. Definitely their thought process is the result of a de-briefing session that was co-ordinated by the Alausa legal team , which the Notional Judicial Council must look into.

(V) For the avoidance of doubt we want to bring to the notice of the National Judicial Council that Justice Abiru only read on already written script. It was for this reason that he allowed the Logos State Government to buy time by giving about a month before he finally delivered its polemical judgement. We want the Nigeria Judicial Council to go and read THIS DAY of Wednesday, March 17, 2010 page 6, where the paper wrote that "The leader of the group (THE TRUE FACE OF LAGOS which is the group in contention here) Mr. Adebayo Adesina led Dr. Tunde George and Mr. Kasali Martins to the Logos Sta te House of Assembly lost month, where he said the governor should be investigated over the allegations. Adeshina , who addressed the lawmakers on behalf of the group, however, absolved the State Assembly members of any financial impropriety". Therefore, Justice cannot choose what to believe or not in writing his judgement. The judgement is not only selective, it is one-sided which is capable of bringing the judiciary into disrepute , and which the Notional Judicial Council must thoroughly investigate.

(VI) We want the Notional Judicial Council to pay particular attention to the fact that if indeed THE TRUE FACE OF LAGOS are lying, why has the NBA for instance, up till now not come to openly deny that it did not collect the whooping sum of over =N=250 million from the Lagos State Government for the Nigerian Bar Association Conference that was done in Lagos State? Why has the Lagos State Government not come out to openly deny that it is not involved in all the allegations levelled against it? If the Lagos State Government has nothing to hide, why did it approach the court to stop the inquiry process? We are of the view that these are issues that Justice Abiru ought to have considered in writing his judgement, instead of dancing to the tune of the piper. Again we call the National Judicial Council to please look into this.

(VII) The judge in his judgement said categorically and emphatically that the Lagos State House of Assembly cannot on the basis of the allegation probe the Lagos State Government , now or in the future and through anybody or institution. This to us is not only absurd but the judge has over-reached his powers. The judge ought to know that the constitution has given unfettered power to the Assembly to the effect that it shall regulate its own procedure. Or is the judge saying he is not aware of the fact that section 128 of the Constitution cannot be interfered with by any law court or authority in Nigeria! We would also like to know whether it is the duty of judge to determine for an Assembly the nature of petitions or how the petition is to be directed to the House of Assembly. We therefore call on the National Judicial Council to look critically into the antecedents of the controversial judge and investigate the fundamental basis of his judgement.

(VIII) The National Judicial Council should please note that, how can a reasonable and responsible judge come to the conclusion that since a group had not hitherto been known for or associated with the struggle for good governance, therefore it cannot be a credible whistle blower , if the judge had put on his right thinking cap and have the fear of God, he would have realised that,

(2) There is no harm really in setting up a panel to verify the authenticity of the allegations

(3) In life, there is always a first time , at least Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola, his mento r was never a Governor before he became a Governor in 2007

(4) We don't even need a university degree to make valid allegations, as a Lagosian who is alive to his avail responsibilities;

What will the Lagos State Government lose by allowing the investigation to take place? All the allegations are correct , factual, real and verifiable. This is what the panel would ' have unravelled but which Justice Abiru and Governor Fashola are trying to cover up. Please let the National Judicial Council look into this now.

(IX) The judiciary is seen as the last bastion of hope for both the strong and the weak. Therefore , the judiciary must not be allowed to be a tool in the hands of the strong to oppress and suppress the weak. The judgement delivered by Justice Abiru gave the Lagos State Government a clean-bill-of -health to continue with financial recklessness, financial impropriety, economic mismanagement, wanton corruption, ubiquitous fraud, abuse of office and flagrant disregard for the constitutional, financial regulations as well as the public procurement rules. Yet, we claim to be in a democracy, we want to reinstate that these allegations are grave, with far-reaching consequences for the growth and development of Lagos State, they must be investigated in the overall interest of the good people of Lagos State. We want the National Judicial Council to look into this pronto.

(X) The kangaroo judgement delivered by Justice Abiru cannot truly stand the test of time as it is replete with several illegalities, absurdities, trivialities and unnecessary technicalities. And, the Supreme Court in many of its ruling has pointed out that the era of technicalities or giving ruling based on technicalities is gone forever. We wonder therefore, why Justice Abiru did not look at the merit of the case before him but went ahead to give a technically biased judgement. Secondly, this case ought to have been dismissed ab-initio, since a similar case has already been decided on by the Supreme Court in a judgement delivered by the erudite Justice Oguntade. The National Judicial Council should please look into this.

(XI) It is the likes of Justice Abiru that will say that the G.O.C in Jos and other security officials must receive a signed petition before they can do their job to stop the mindless carnage and pogrom in Jos. The allegations are in the public domain and the public are interested in what is going on in government and what the government is doing with the hard-earned tax-payers money should go, why would Justice Abiru say the allegations are spurious and frivolous, have they been investigated? It would be recalled that Chief Obafemi Awolowo faced the Coker Commission of Inquiry, the late Owelle of Onitsha, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe appeared before the Foster Sutton Commission of Inquiry, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the immediate past Vice-President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria faced the Senate Committee that probed the activities of PTDF, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo appeared before the Oputa Panel , Chief Bola Ige faced the Senate Power Sector Probe, Dr. Olusegun Agagu and Governor Imoke faced the Power Sector probe panel of the House of Representatives, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu faced the Lagos State House of Assembly probe panel and there are so many other similar instances. Therefore, National Judicial Council most help us ensure that justice is done in this instance.

(XII) We want the National Judicial Council to painstakingly look at the judgement delivered by Justice Abiru as well as the circumstances surrounding how the case came to his court and all the intricacies involved therein, and decide if indeed what Justice Abiru has done is fit and proper as well as legal and orderly. We want the National Judicial Council to please help clear the name of the judiciary and to prove to all once again that indeed the judiciary remains the last bastion of hope for both the strong and the weak, and cannot be manipulated by anybody no matter how highly placed. The National Judicial Council must equally demonstrate that Justice delayed is justice denied; hence National Judicial Council must help us do justice to this case.

Finally, we would like National Judicial Council to invite the ICPC, EFCC to join them in investigating and probing judiciously the activities of Justice Abiru. It is important that the Lagos state judiciary is saved from such shameful activities in the future. There is the need to clear the name of the Nigerian Judiciary from this mess by the unacceptable behaviour of Justice Abiru.

The Speaker, House of Representatives
Attorney General of the Federation
The Speaker, Lagos State House of Assembly
Chief Justice of Lagos State
Executive Secretary, Human Rights Commission
Chairman, EFCC
Chairman , ICPC
President, CACOL