Civil group writes Buhari, NASS, others over Osun judge’s sack by NJC

A civil society group has written to President Muhammadu Buhari, calling for an independent investigation by the Presidency into the recommendation for the compulsory retirement of a judge of the Osun State High Court.

The call is coming barely two months after the National Judicial Council (NJC) handed down its recommendation of compulsory retirement of Justice Olamide Folahanmi Oloyede, for writing a petition to the State House of Assembly calling for the impeachment of the state governor, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola.

The group, the Civil Societies Coalition for the Emancipation of Osun State (CSCEOS), copied the leadership of the National Assembly, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice; and the Executive Secretary of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), among others.

It asked them to conduct a thorough and unbiased  inquiry into the matter given its national importance.

In a statement signed by its chairman, Comrade Adeniyi Alimi Sulaiman, the group urged President  Buhari to set up an independent panel of inquiry of international standard to investigate the rationale behind  what it alleged was the sudden “change of Code of Conduct for Judicial officers,” after the proceedings of the Justice Auta’s panel in 2016, when the 2014 Code of Conduct for judicial officers was still subsisting.

It stated that this was where it suspected foul play in the Justice Oloyede matter.

The statement read in part, “We will like to also inform your humble self that there are a few elements who are working round the clock to ensure that your administration will be seen as a government which does not respect the rules of the land and the opinion of whistle blowers.

They want to give the impression that yours is a lawless government before the local and international community,” it said.