Kogi: Executive, Judiciary at loggerheads

Bello and  Ajanah

Correspondent JAMES AZANIA examines the frosty relationship between the executive and the judiciary in Kogi State, which has culminated into the plot to remove Chief Justice Nasir Ajanah from office.

The crisis is brewing between Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello and the Chief Judge, Nasir Ajanah.

The feud culminated in last week’s court injunction restraining the two arms of government from interfering in the activities of the judiciary, particularly Justice Ajanah and the Chief Registrar, Yahaya Adamu.

The Koton-Karfe Division of the High Court of Kogi State restrained the Yahaya Bello-led administration and the House of Assembly from taking steps that will interfere in judicial duties.

The order, which was obtained by the Chief Judge and the Chief Registrar came in the wake of the purported plan by the Assembly to investigate the judiciary, following a petition to the Secretary to the Government (SSG), Mrs Folashade Arike Ayoade, against the judiciary.

Ayoade had requested from the chief judge the payroll of judicial workers as part of the recent ‘table payment’ by the government, in an effort to ascertain the workforce and prevent leakages.

Ayoade is standing trial in High Court 1, presided over by the CJ, on charges proffered against her by the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC).

The ex-parte application filed by Yemi Muhammed, counsel to the applicants, prayed the court to restrain the defendants from threatening or interfering in the judicial activities, pending the determination of the substantive suit.

The defendants include the House of Assembly; the Speaker Mathew Kolawole; the Chairman of the Ad hoc Committee, Hassan Abdullahi; the governor and the Attorney-General.

The ad hoc committee was set up to look into an alleged “impasse between the judiciary and the executive arms of government with a view to providing guidance and way forward.”

It was gathered, however, that the House of Assembly allegedly harboured a plan to ask the CJ to step aside while their work is ongoing.

In his ruling, Justice Alaba Ajileye said: “I grant the application as prayed.”

Governor Bello and CJ Ajanah, are from Ebira (Kogi Central). To observers, the right was anticipated.

The reluctance of the CJ to pander to entreaties that Senator Dino Melaye (Kogi West) be remanded at the Federal Prisons Koton-Karfe, at the height of his arraignment in Lokoja, by the police, on alleged gun running and sundry other charges may have been the genesis. But, others insist that the crack predate the Melaye episode.

The Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the Governor, Kingsley Fanwo, however, debunked insinuations of a rift between his principal and the CJ.

Fanwo said: “There is no face-off between the Governor and the Chief Judge of the state.

The disagreement between the ‘Pay Parade Committee’ and the judiciary should not be misconstrued as a personality clash between the governor and the judiciary.

“Governor Yahaya Bello has a deep respect for the judiciary and will continue to hold that sacred arm of government in high esteem.

The Kogi State House of Assembly has invited the executive and the judiciary to dialogue on the impasse with judiciary staff. We have presented our case and we hope they too will take advantage of the peace window to address the issue. The pay parade system has helped us discover more ghost workers. Even the parliamentary staff presented themselves for the process and their data have been captured and they have been paid.

“Judiciary staff should tow the same line to save the state from people who are receiving salaries without any contributions to the state.”

Fanwo added: “The SSG did not make a recommendation for the removal of the CJ.”

Some of the reasons for the animosity may be subject of conjecture. But, the declaration of indefinite strike by the state chapter of the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN), against the backdrop of alleged accumulated salary arrears of about six months or the purported non-release of judiciary payroll, on request by the office of the SSG may have been worsened the relationship.

The state has been in the news in recent times over agitations by judiciary workers for payment of salaries and other emoluments by the government.

Events took a different dimension when the government proposed a pay parade for civil servants in the state, which JUSUN declared unacceptable.


The union insisted on financial autonomy of the judiciary, with the leadership of the union battling the state government on compliance with a 2014 Federal High Court judgment that mandated each state to respect Section 121(3) of the Constitution, stipulating financial independence of state judiciaries.

According to Comrade Emmanuel Waniko, the chairman of JUSUN: “Members can no longer continue to bear the hardship as their families, particularly children, were being driven from schools for non-payment of school fees, even as they are also contending with the problems of feeding and accommodation.”

The union said it was wrong of the SSG to have petitioned the house of assembly over the matter relating to the non-payment of salary.

According to Waniko, the SSG ought to have known that her action violated the principle of separation of power among arms of government.

He described the petition by the SSG against the CJ (Nasir Ajanah) and the Chief Registrar (Yahaya Adamu), as diversionary.

The chairman explained that the crisis was as a result of the non-payment of the workers’ salary for five months due to the failure of the executive to release the subvention of the judiciary.

The union reiterated its rejection of the table payment arrangement.

The statement reads: “The attention of the leadership of JUSUN in Kogi State has been drawn to the petition by the Secretary to the Government of Kogi State, Mrs Folashade Ayoade, to the Kogi State House of Assembly upon which the later set up an ad hoc committee to investigate the Chief Judge and our Chief Registrar.

“It must first be mentioned that this is an attempt by the executive arm of the state to draw the legislative arm into an industrial matter with a suspected ulterior motive to denigrate the temple of justice.

“Secondly, we expect the SSG to be knowledgeable enough to know the principle of separation of powers between the three arms of government.  On the matter of pay parade or table payment, we wish to reiterate again that JUSUN would not fold its arms when an obvious attempt is being made to usurp the powers of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) through any disguise.

“It is interesting to note that this development is coming up when parliamentary workers all over the country, including those of Kogi State, are celebrating President Muhammadu Buhari’s recent ascent to the financial autonomy of the judiciary and the legislature.

In This Story:#JUSUN #FolashadeAyoade  #YahayaAdamu #YahayaBello #MuhammaduBuhari

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