Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa commentary on Osun unfair, biased

Our attention has been drawn to the persistent attacks on Governor Ademola Adeleke by Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa Esq over the state of the judiciary in Osun State. His recent outbursts are consistent with his unjustifiable political attacks of last year which were clothed in judicial advocacy.

His piece of last year contained factually incorrect narrations on which he then built an equally jaundiced conclusion. Those errors in the first piece called to question if truly the piece originates from the Comrade Senior Advocate of Nigeria. We know his pedigree but we are worried about his turn of focus and attention. Even at that, we resolved to remain silent, assuming it was probably one of those mistakes in activism.

We are however constrained to respond now that he has released another misdirected attack. It has become obvious that the first write-up of last year was not an error. The benefit of doubt granted last year cannot continue in the face of open evidence that our comrade was indeed attacks on a performing governor, well loved by his people.

In the new piece, the barrister actually admitted he goofed in the previous write-up, owning up that he was later informed that judicial workers actually wrote petitions against the State Chief Judge and that indeed there are complaints from the workers against the Chief Judge. Yet, he failed to apologize to Governor Adeleke whom he used unprinted labels on in his infamous write-up. It would have been more honourable for the comrade to own up, apologize and abandon the brief to denigrate a governor who is simply, happily and diligently serving his people.

In his new piece, he disingenuously built on the error he had admitted, heaping the blame for the judiciary strike in Osun State on the state governor. This is the same man who owned up to the fact that the judicial union had welfare and operational disputes with the head of the state judiciary. Is Governor Adeleke the head of the Osun State judiciary?

In his write-up, the comrade deliberately remained fully silent on the head of the state judiciary. If the courts are in crisis, a well-meaning writer will question what action the Chief Judge has taken to resolve the matter. Why is Adegboruwa unwilling to call into question the role of the Chief Judge on welfare and operational issues affecting the judicial staff union under her? Is Governor Adeleke in charge of disputed issues the union is complaining of?

Additionally, the Comrade opted to be blind to several efforts of Governor Adeleke to resolve the matter despite the fact that he is not the head of the state judiciary. If Adegboruwa is happy to be silent on the role of the head of the judiciary, he should have been magnanimous enough to acknowledge the positive interventions of Mr Governor. He pretended to be unaware because admitting such would expose the head of the judiciary that he was commissioned to protect.

For records, the judicial staff union levelled several operational and welfare allegations against the Chief Judge which include among others the withholding of salaries of some judicial workers, non-payment of wardrobe allowances among other allowances, alleged abuse of power, police brutality and issues over fund mismanagement. These, among others, are issues included in the union’s petition before the National Judicial Council.

Mr Governor actually went out of his way to ensure the payment of withheld salaries of the judicial union as a way of putting an end to the strike. He proceeded to inquire about the allowances until it was discovered that the funds had actually been released to the judiciary. Just a few days ago, the Governor hosted a delegation of the national leadership of the Judicial Staff Union of Nigeria, appealing for interventions to resolve the industrial disputes. What else is Adegboruwa expecting the governor to do, especially when he is not the head of the judiciary?

While avoiding the crux of the matter because of his fear of the NJC, the Comrade proceeded to propound a jaundiced theory of necessity of a state of emergency. Because the head of an arm of government has failed to manage workers under her, then the whole state government should be brought down.

If an arm of government is not functioning, the question should be why. In this case, the non-functioning is because the workers have complaints against the head of their sector, in this case, the Chief Judge, a matter that is before the NJC. Third parties, such as the national leadership of the union and even the state governor, are intervening for an amicable resolution. Adegboruwa should ask what the head of the judiciary is doing instead of making baseless advocacy out of hatred for the governor and out of his protection of the Chief Judge.

How a SAN woke up to hold a governor rather than the Chief Judge responsible for strike action by judicial workers over welfare issues is still a mystery.

Rasheed is Spokesperson to Osun State Governor.