Yinka Kolawole in Osogbo
Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke, has again proved his cordial relationship with the judiciary by approving and cash-backing arrears of salaries owed retired Judges in the state.
In a move widely applauded by the legal community, Governor Adeleke posited that Judges serving or retired deserve maximum support and partnership of the executive arm of government, apologising for the neglect by the previous government of such a matter of importance to the well-being of judicial officers.
“I am not just committed to clearing such inherited salary matters; I am also working to provide requisite logistic support for serving judicial officers. The judiciary must be provided the tools for efficient justice administration and adjudication,” the governor was quoted as saying.
Adeleke, who has bagged several awards as most workers and pensioners’ friendly governor, further reassured judicial officers that their wellbeing remains uppermost in his mind, tasking the Bar and the Bench to remain focused and undistracted by agents of destabilisation.
While reacting to some recently sponsored social media publications insinuating a strained relationship between the present administration in the state and the state’s judiciary, the governor warned those running solicited and unsolicited social media errands for the state Chief Judge to desist from such, drawing the attention of peddlers and sponsors of the fake news to the danger and implications of spreading fake news on the cyberspace.
According to him, “The present administration in Osun State has as its number one priority the workers’ welfare, how much more the welfare of the judicial officers of the state, whether serving or retired. Since this administration came on board, the state government has continued to enjoy a harmonious working relationship with the state judiciary.
“There has never been any time our administration has made any attempt to gag the judiciary or unduly influence any of the state’s judicial officers. We are clearing the inherited financial obligations owed to our judicial officers both serving and retired. What the peddlers of fake news and their sponsors intend to achieve by insinuating or feigning a strained relationship between the state government and the state judiciary is what we don’t know.
“Recently, we constituted statutory commissions in the state among which is the state Judicial Service Commission solely for the purpose of catering adequately for the needs of the judiciary. If there is any rot in the state judiciary, it must have been there before the coming on board of the present administration, and we are committed to helping to reshape our judiciary so that it would truly live up to the expectation of being the last hope of the common man.”
