Resign Now, Oodua Group Tells Justice Folahanmi

The Pan Yoruba group, Oodua Nationalist Coalition, (ONAC) has called on the Osun State judge, Justice Oloyede Folahanmi to resign from the judiciary in the state.

ONAC, which is a coalition of several Pan Yoruba groups said since the judge was ready to defend the allegations made against the Governor of the State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, it is logical for the petitioner to resign from the bench for her to be able to defend her allegations without ‘institutional bias.’ Justice Folahanmi early this week wrote a petition to the Economic and Financial Crims Commission, (EFCC) calling for the impeachment of the State Governor.

Ogbeni Aregbesola’s arch rival, Senator Iyiola Omisore had earlier made similar calls. The State of Osun is one of the 23 states where workers are being owed salaries in what has become a past time in Nigerian public and private sector more pronounced during the reign of the ousted Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP).

Making the call today in a statement issued in Lagos today the O’Odua Nationalist Coalition and signed by the Deputy Chairman, Adeyemi Atiba, said the allegations raised by the judge will have full judicial and moral weight if only she resigns to defend those allegations in the court.

In the statement, ONAC said “We urge you, Justice Folahanmi to resign. These are serious legal and moral issues involved in the allegations raised by the judge. The best thing for her is to resign. Her resignation from the bench is necessary because we do not expect her to be a member of the same judicial institution that is expected to hear the allegations she has raised. She cannot be a sitting judge at the same time giving evidence in any court of competent jurisdiction or panel that the House of Assembly may wish to constitute.

The statement read further “Justice Folahanmi will prove her commitment to any sense of decency if she quits the bench today and not a minute later. This is the right thing to do at the moment. She is now a witness, she cannot at the same time sit on the judiciary as a prosecutor. We want to see her throw in her resignation to be able to pursue the issues she has raised as a star witness.”

ONAC urged her to resign adding that that there are outstanding allegations against the judge for the alleged ignoble role she played  in the Tribunal led by Justice Naron which heard the petition against the Peoples Democratic People (PDP), following irregularities and graft at the Tribunal associated with the 2007 gubernatorial election in the state of Osun.

In a related development, the former National General Secretary of the Nigerian Union of Air Transport Employees, (NUATE) Comrade Abdulkareem Motajo told Irohinodua in an interview today that the judge needs to prove that nonpayment of workers’ salaries is an impeachable offence. He told our correspondent “everybody knows the governor of Osun as a sincere person. Some of his programmes are enduring.  The Opon Imo, the mega schools and mega highways are laudable projects which over all glory were affected by the dwindling revenue from the Federal Government. This affects 26 states of the federation not Osun alone.”

Speaking to Irohinodua, the General Secretary of Nigerian Automobile Technicians Association, (NATA) said the allegations by the judge are ‘spurious’. He said “She has no history of being an activist judge. In fact she is a reactionary judge given her past and present pronouncements at the bench. For her to jump up to play the role of a hero suggests she is being used by some reactionary politicians. It speaks volume about the rot in the judiciary