March 16, 2010
A Lagos High Court ruled today that the State Assembly cannot probe Governor Babatunde Fashola over allegations of corruption. Although the court admitted that the litigant, Mr. Richard Akinola, had the locus standi to institute the case,
it however, it held that the body that brought the petition before the state assembly, which called itself “True Face of Lagos”, was a faceless group. Accordingly, it stopped the State Assembly from further probing the allegations of corruption made against the governor.
Signs that the case was doomed from inception came when the case, which was earlier filed in Ikeja was transferred to the Ikorodu Division. Although that practice is legitimate, many legal observers said it was too obvious that the strategy was that a judge in Ikorodu would be shielded from the pressures of the mainland.
The judge, Wale Abiru has thus sealed the fate of the probe against the governor, and against the barrage of allegations that are being sponsored by his predecessor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. The state governor, regarded as one the most popular in Nigeria, has not refuted any of the allegations brought against him in a series of media reports. Today’s decision came on the heels of the total dismantling of some state judges in the Criminal Division yesterday, including Justice Olubunmi Oyewole, the judge that jailed former PDP chieftain, Bode George. Justice Oyewole last year sentenced George, a former Chairman of the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) board, and five others, to 30 months imprisonment. George is serving his sentence at the Kirikiri prison in Lagos but has his appeal scheduled for Thursday.
Saharareporters sources revealed that the appeal might sail true as the new Minister for Justice, Adetokumbo Ademola, has a close relationship with George’s only nominee on the Yar’Adua cabinet, Minister of state for Interior Ademola Seriki.
it however, it held that the body that brought the petition before the state assembly, which called itself “True Face of Lagos”, was a faceless group. Accordingly, it stopped the State Assembly from further probing the allegations of corruption made against the governor.
Signs that the case was doomed from inception came when the case, which was earlier filed in Ikeja was transferred to the Ikorodu Division. Although that practice is legitimate, many legal observers said it was too obvious that the strategy was that a judge in Ikorodu would be shielded from the pressures of the mainland.
The judge, Wale Abiru has thus sealed the fate of the probe against the governor, and against the barrage of allegations that are being sponsored by his predecessor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. The state governor, regarded as one the most popular in Nigeria, has not refuted any of the allegations brought against him in a series of media reports. Today’s decision came on the heels of the total dismantling of some state judges in the Criminal Division yesterday, including Justice Olubunmi Oyewole, the judge that jailed former PDP chieftain, Bode George. Justice Oyewole last year sentenced George, a former Chairman of the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) board, and five others, to 30 months imprisonment. George is serving his sentence at the Kirikiri prison in Lagos but has his appeal scheduled for Thursday.
Saharareporters sources revealed that the appeal might sail true as the new Minister for Justice, Adetokumbo Ademola, has a close relationship with George’s only nominee on the Yar’Adua cabinet, Minister of state for Interior Ademola Seriki.
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