The National Judicial Council (NJC) thursday in Abuja said it had begun investigation into all petitions submitted to it on the attacks on judges and vandalism of properties at the High Court Complex, Ado-Ekiti on September 22 and 25, 2014.

Rising from an emergency meeting held in respect of the fracas at the Ekiti State High Court complex, the council called on the Inspector General of Police (IG); to take over the investigation of the reported attacks on Justices John Adeyeye and Isaac Olusegun Ogunyemi and some workers of the Ekiti State High Court.

The council also asked the police boss to investigate the vandalism of property at the court and to bring the culprits to justice.
In a statement signed by the council's acting Director of Information, Mr. Soji Oye, it also urged the IG to provide security for judicial officers across the country.

The council also condemned in strong terms “the recent unfortunate and worrisome incidents in Ekiti State judiciary, particularly in the High Court complex, Ado-Ekiti”.

While promising to investigate all petitions submitted to it by different parties, the council further requested the IG, as a matter of urgency, to provide adequate security to judicial officers and the judiciary in Ekiti State.

There have been allegations and counter allegations by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as regards who should take the blame for the attacks on judicial officers in the state.

However, the blame game continued thursday when APC slammed the police authorities in Ekiti State for abandoning their responsibility of protecting judges and lawyers from the rampaging thugs, who besieged the premises of the state High Court on September 25th.

The party said it was reiterating its earlier call for the arrest and prosecution of Ekiti Governor-elect Ayodele Fayose for leading a band of thugs to attack Justice Adeyeye, warning that failure to act decisively now would spell danger for judges and the nation’s democracy.

In a statement issued yesterday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, APC called on the IG to sanction the policemen “who stood idly by as thugs were attacking judges, lawyers, litigants and others”, saying the police “must always carry out its constitutional duties no matter which politician is flouting the law”.

It said the issue of the security of judges and the unfettered administration of justice transcends politics, hence no politician, no matter his status, must be allowed to go scot-free after attacking judges.

The party also appealed to the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) to take the lead in ensuring that those behind the senseless attack on judges in Ekiti are made to face the full wrath of the law, irrespective of their status in the society.

It said any delay in taking action would see Fayose assume office, meaning he can no longer be arrested and prosecuted for what is an egregious contempt of court.

APC said the attack on judges in Ekiti had also reinforced the call in some quarters, on the basis of constitutional provisions, to subject candidates seeking political offices in the country to psychiatric tests, to prevent people with a mental imbalance from taking over the affairs of state.

The party said those who are trivialising the issue and trying to play dirty politics with it should take a moment to think of what Fayose will do to the judges whom he led thugs to beat up, when he assumes office as governor of the state.

“Now that the Chief Judge of Ekiti has confirmed, in a petition to the National Judicial Council (NJC), that Fayose was complicit in the attack, the NJC should treat the issue expeditiously by taking a decisive action that will make it very costly for anyone to ever attack a judge again.

“The need to act is urgent so that no judge gets killed simply because some powerful personality does not like his or her ruling.
“Had the relevant authorities acted with dispatch when another court in the same state was invaded by pro-Fayose thugs earlier the same week, the attack on Justice Adeyeye would have been averted,” it said.

APC said no decent society would tolerate attack on judges, which is not just a threat to the administration of justice but also a clear and present danger to democracy itself.

The party recalled that not even during the chaotic political crisis in the then Western Region, which earned it the tag “Wild, Wild West”, were judges beaten up like Fayose and his thugs did in Ekiti.

“Only in Idi Amin's Uganda can one recall, in recent memory that this kind of attack happened. In 1972, the Ugandan chief justice was murdered by Idi Amin’s agents, after the then president publicly criticised the judge's ruling.

“Later, the president of the country’s industrial courts was also killed, while lawyers were routinely beaten up,” it said.