Judges’ salaries should be reviewed now —Mutalubi Ojo Adebayo

A former Attorney-General of Oyo State, Mutalubi Ojo Adebayo (SAN), recently threatened to sue the Osun State government if, by the end of this month, it fails to pay judges and other judicial workers their arrears of allowances. He has also called for a review of salaries of judges. He speaks with SAM NWAOKO on why.

 

You recently raised some allegations against the Osun State government regarding payments due to judicial officers in Osun State.

They are not allegations. They owe their judicial officers – serving and retired about 19 month’s arrears of salaries. It started during the Rauf Aregbesola era when he was paying workers half salary. When Aregbesola left, Gboyega Oyetola came and did not pay a kobo out of it. Senator Ademola Adeleke, who is the current governor recently paid and settled all arrears of severance packages of political appointees that had served the state. He cleared everything. If he is able to do that, why are they still refusing to pay judicial officers? Have they committed any crime? Why must they be treated so unjustly and with disdain? Why must they be ridiculed and humiliated in such a manner? Have they not worked? Is he saying that political appointees worked more than them? Is he saying that political appointees have more value and judges are not to be involved in partisan politics – is that why he is doing that?

So, I now gave them ultimatum that by the 30th of September, if they do not pay, on the 3rd of October, I will go to court to file an action to compel Osun State government to pay all those money with interest. I am also going to get damages – I will seek aggravated and central damages against the government of Osun State and the state Judicial Service Commission. It is bad on the part of the state and any government for that matter to treat judicial officers in that manner. It is unheard of.

As someone who served as the Attorney-General of Oyo State from 2011 to 2015, I am pained to the marrow that such disdainful and irresponsible treatment of judicial officers can happen in any part of the South West states.

 

As a former Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice in Oyo State, it can be taken that you are from Oyo State and therefore not an indigene of Osun State. Will you not be referred to as a meddlesome interloper in this matter of judicial officers of Osun State?

I’m a lawyer. I was a member of the Body of Benchers from 2011 to 2015. I was also a member of the Council for Legal Education from 2011 to 2015 and by the grace of God I’m now a Senior Advocate of Nigeria. So, would I say because I am from Oyo State I should restrict my practice to Oyo State? Do I practice in Oyo State alone? I practice all over the country. I have cases in Osun that I am handling presently. So if the judges are not being treated well won’t it affect me?

Then, the issue of locu standi is gone. It is dead and buried under the present system that we have. This suit I intend to file is called ‘public interest litigation’ and it cannot be defeated by such technicalities. The court has to give substantial justice.

 

You also recently alleged that some judges were aspiring or dreaming to become rich like corrupt politicians.

I didn’t say that, I was taken out of context. That has even put me on the front burner and has also put me on a collision course with some of our judges. Nigeria has the best judges in the Commonwealth. The best judges in the Commonwealth are found in Nigeria. But just like any other system, we have some bad eggs among them – bad eggs that are trying to bring down the good ones. It is just like when you are wearing a white agbada; take a needle, dip it in oil and make a dot of stain on that agbada, nobody will see the whiteness but the stain. That is what I am saying. We have some judges who are aspiring to live like those corrupt politicians. Must we use them as standard?

Yes, the system is bad for the judges. We can improve on it. We can make it better but not that we now use those corrupt thieves – those politicians – as the barometer. No, I don’t agree with that. That is the point I was trying to make. The judges’ salary should be reviewed now, because the last time it was reviewed was 12 years ago.  Happily enough we now have in office an Attorney-General who all of us in the justice sector, all of us whether you are lawyer to anybody or not, attest to the fact that Nigeria could not have got a better Attorney-General than Lateef Fagbemi, SAN. For now, you cannot get a better Attorney-General. Believe me. Let us have trust and confidence in him. You will see changes that the man is going to bring to bear on the country’s justice sector. You will see it. You are going to witness radical improvement in our justice sector because the right man is on the seat. The justice system will now be on auto pilot and it will be the best for all of us.

 

Was it on autopilot in the last administration?

The last time we had a good Attorneys-General was when we had Chief Akin Olujimi and Bayo Ojo. I can tell you now that Prince Lateef Fagbemi is going to take our justice sector to the next level. He is a round peg in a round hole. All of us are proud of him.

 

As a Senior Advocate, what are some of the privileges you enjoy by that rank?

Some of the privileges are that when I go to court my case can be called out of turn, court will accord me priority. For instance, if my case is number 10, I will be called first. I also have the right to sit in the inner bar. Now I wear silk, not cotton gown. I have the right to wear round bottom wig like judges – ceremonial wig. For instance, I did that when I went for the valedictory court session in honour of retired Justice Amina Augie. Those are the privileges. It means that you have reached the peak and the pinnacle of your profession because you have achieved distinction and excellence.

 

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