Kayode Ajulo’s Mission to Rank Ondo’s Justice System Among Nigeria’s Finest

In Ondo State, the Ministry of Justice has stopped being a passive bureaucratic appendage and started becoming a benchmark. The man holding the pen on that transformation is Dr. Kayode Ajulo, SAN, the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, who has quietly turned a routine government office into the top-performing ministry in the state, according to the 2025 Performance Scorecard from the Institute for Governance and Leadership Accountability.

That ranking emerged not from loud speeches but from an eight-point agenda that Ajulo rolled out with the precision of someone who has spent decades inside the logic of the law. Access to justice, uniform enforcement, obedience to court orders, and welfare for law officers are the factors that actually hold up a system. He also created the Office of People Defender to protect vulnerable citizens, demonstrating his belief in a justice system interested in the poor, not just the powerful.

What about infrastructure? The ongoing construction of a Judiciary Village named after the late Governor Akeredolu will bring ultra-modern courtrooms and administrative hubs to the state. But the quiet revolution may be digital: an electronic legal library, a criminal records database, and automated court processes that promise to unclog a creaky wheel.

Results are already visible. The backlog of cases in Ondo’s judiciary has dropped by 18 per cent. Six new High Court judges have been appointed, the first such expansion since 1976. More than 270 young lawyers now serve as volunteer legal aides, gaining experience while helping to clear dockets. Ajulo also pushed through an Anti-Land Grabbing Law and a task force to tackle property disputes, a persistent headache in the state.

None of this makes for dramatic television. Then again, drama is not the assignment.

Ajulo seems invested in building a justice system that works for people who cannot afford to wait years for resolution. Clearly, the man understands that excellence in this field is not measured by press releases but by backlogs cleared, judges appointed, and the quiet confidence of a citizen who believes the court might actually hear her case.