Abiodun swears in president, customary court of appeal; ex-chief registrar, 7 others as judges in Ogun

Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State on Monday swore in the Acting President of the Customary Court of Appeal and eight other judges for the State Judiciary, asking them to dispense justice without fear or favour.

The governor, while addressing the new men and women of the Bench, equally tasked them to ensure prompt dispensation of justice to all manner of people at all times.

Speaking at the ceremony held at the June 12 Cultural Centre, Kuto, Abeokuta, Governor Dapo Abiodun described the judges as the last hope of the common man and bastion of democracy, hence, the need for them to be above board.

“Judiciary is very important to democracy. It is an arm of government that tells us what the law says and asserts the correct interpretations of the law. It keeps the other arms in check, so no one should underrate the importance of modern democracy. This places an enormous task on them. Therefore, they must be above board.

“No investor will invest in a society without the rule of law and the judiciary is to ensure that there is a rule of law. I urged you to make use of modern and practical methods of dispensing timely justice because you carry a burden of not only ensuring that justice is done but seen to have been done.

“If other aspects of our national life suffer from decadence, the judiciary cannot afford to, otherwise the consequence is anarchy”, he noted.

While reeling out the efforts made by the State government to aid quick and unbiased justice delivery, Governor Abiodun declared that his Administration had carried out several reforms such as the Case Management and Schedule System, the Justice Clock, deployed to monitor time spent by the Public Prosecution Department, Custody Monitoring Dashboard, Human Rights Portal and the Correction Information Management System, to enhance justice delivery.

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While assuring that his Administration would continue to play its role in enhancing access to the quick dispensation of justice by facilitating the appointment of judiciary officers and providing needed tools for service delivery, Governor Abiodun noted that his Administration was the first in the country to appoint President of the Customary Court, just as Multi-Door Courts in the State have dispatched over 1,000 cases in Ota and in Sagamu.

He said the eight judges who had been carefully selected and had passed the integrity and character test, have a sound understanding of the principles of law, adding that significant efforts had been made to uphold the judiciary by giving them maximum support to enable them to discharge their constitutional duties effectively.

The new judges are Hon. Justice Adebisi Femi-Segun, the Acting President of the Customary Court of Appeal; Oluwafunke Omolara Odubanjo Esq., the former Chief Registrar, Ogun State High Court of Justice; Awofeso Ireti-Olu Babatunde, former Chief Magistrate, Ogun State Judiciary; Adelaja Adeola Ireti, former Deputy Chief Registrar, High Court of Justice, Ogun State; Adebayo Bamidele Adedapo, former Solicitor-General and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Justice, Ogun State.

Others are Basirat Bolanle Adebowale of the Judiciary Service Commission, Ogun State; Ayodele Adebayo Omoniyi, a Private Legal Practitioner based in Ilaro, Ogun State; Sunday Olufemi Adeniyi, a Private Legal Practitioner based in Lagos and Abimbola Christopher Shokunbi, a Private Legal Practitioner also based in Lagos.