The political leadership of the Government of Ondo State has been inundated with calls and messages on the heresy credited to a former Chief Judge of the State, Hon. Justice Olaseinde Kumuyi, Rtd.
The retired judge granted an interview to the media on his decision to join partisan politics.
Between the tempting urge to ignore the barefaced lies from an accustomed quarter, where no despicable conduct can astonish the decent, and the compelling need to inform the good members of the public who may be easily deceived, this response becomes necessary.
This retired judge was credited with the statement that he was joining his fellow political travelers, on yet another itinerary of deceit, to improve the living conditions of the people of Akoko Division of the State because the Government had not made any noticeable impact in the lives of the people.
In one of such unguarded outbursts, Radio Nigeria Positive 102.5 FM, Akure, quoted him to have condemned the Akeredolu-led Government in Ondo State as not performing, among other inanities uttered, to justify his foray into partisan politics.
We are convinced that the good people of this State, especially those in the Akoko Division, are not deceived by the now familiar antics of apostates. The antecedents of many of these characters, yesterday men and women, complicit in all unimaginable infractions against the people, heavily-laden with baggage of misdeeds, should confine them, permanently, to the hall of infamy in the political history of this country.
We note Justice Kumuyi’s sojourn in the judiciary. He was an uncommon judicial officer indeed. The expectation of all reasonable people in the State from any judicial officer, who retired from the Bench, should be an existence in sobriety. This virtue, we know, will almost be an impossible exaction from a personality, whose stint as the Chief Judge bore deleterious imprints on the very foundation of decorous calmness associated with the profession and its practitioners.
It will not be out of place to ask this man, who was a brash partisan of injustice, while he held sway as the CJ, to explain his role in the marginalization of the Akoko Division of the State. It is a notorious fact that Justice Kumuyi, Rtd, desecrated the hallowed precincts of the judiciary. He organized, routinely, political party meetings as a serving judge. He participated in partisan politics, contrary to the oath of office of judicial officers. He was a member of the Labour Party. He moved with his cohorts to PDP. He is back in Labour Party with his kindred spirits. He has always participated in politics. It is, therefore, not difficult to imagine the nature and character of the judgements of this strange jurist as a judicial officer while in service.
The current Administration in Ondo State inherited a judicial system that gave it a cause for some concern. No aspect of the third arm of government was spared the touch of putrescence. The Governor, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, SAN, and the current Chief Judge are determined to redirect the State’s judiciary to the path of rectitude. The pervasive rot, bequeathed to the judiciary by the Justice Kumuyi, Rtd, led leadership, is still being cleared.
It is hypocritical, and this is being charitable, for a person who easily passed as a member of the kitchen cabinet of the last Administration, which spent eight years in office, to complain that his people have been neglected for so long. Nothing can be more pathetic than the plaintive hypocrisy of an erstwhile conniving and dubious advocate pretending to care about the sorry plight of his people. While it is incontrovertible that the Akoko Division needs urgent, sustained and significant interventions from the Government, the deliberate distortion of facts, as regards the current realities in the State, depicts Justice Kumuyi, Rtd, as an insincere person who toys with the emotions of his people.
The Ondo State Government, ably led by Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, SAN, leaves no one in doubt as to its determination to abridge the huge infrastructural gaps in the 3 Senatorial Districts in the State. The ubiquitous interventions in all parts are evident. The massive construction/rehabilitation of roads, schools, among other public utilities, could not have escaped the notice of those truly interested in the development of the State for the benefit of the people. Perhaps, the only sin of this Administration is its insistence on not subscribing to the specious ideology of dispossession of the people, anchored and sustained on a system of boisterous propaganda and deceit. The continuous strict adherence to the principles of equity and justice will appear strange to those who perverted justice for parochial benefits.
The retired jurist is at liberty to resume his role as a politician now that he is retired. He has very little to learn from anyone in the field since he has always been in active politics, even as a judge. He will, however, be discouraged, actively, from distorting facts to suit pernicious ends.
DR DOYIN ODEBOWALE,
SSA, SPECIAL DUTIES & STRATEGY
ONDO STATE GOVERNMENT
