The All Progressives Congress (APC) has reiterated its earlier call for
the arrest and prosecution of Ekiti 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.
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.
”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,” it said.
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.