The hopes of becoming high court judges by magistrates and other senior judicial officers at the ministry of justice in Oyo state may not see the light of the day if the Chief Justice of the Federation, Olukayode Ariwoola did not intervene immediately.
In a petition letter addressed to the Chief Justice of Nigeria by Centre For Justice, Mercy And Reconciliation (CJMR), and signed by Pastor Hezekiah Deboboye Olujobi, and which a copy was obtained by the TheDispatch, the group accused the Oyo State Judicial Service Commission of deliberately marginalising magistrates and other senior judicial officers at the ministry of justice in the appointment of high court judges in Oyo State.
According to the group, the Judicial Service Commission of Oyo State is improperly constituted for the conduct of the exercise.
CJMR stated that: ‘All members of the committee are lawyers. No single civilian member as required by the law was part of the process.”
“We reliably gathered that there is ongoing process in the appointment of High Court Judges in Oyo State and curiously the Magistracy which comprised of Chief Registrar,
Deputy Chief Registrars and Chief Magistrates who have both adjudicatory and administrative experiences have been marginalised by the Judicial Service Commission
2. The Oyo State Judicial Service Commission has ignominiously sticked to the old, unjust and unfair tradition of appointing only the Chief Registrar out of the numerous a qualified and experienced Deputy Chief Registrars and Chief Magistrates as High Court Judges, and considering the number of the Deputy Chief Registrars and Chief Magistrates in the hierarchy some of whom have put in over 25 years on the bench, one wonder how long it would take the affected lower Court Judges to be elevated to the High Court Bench.?
The Commission has allowed partisan politics, Nepotism favoritisms and lack transparency to ruin the appointments process, to the extent that junior lawyers who lacked requisite experiences both from the bar, the academics and the ministry of justice have been shortlisted over and above their very senior and experienced colleagues at magistracy and the Ministry of Justice.
When people are jumping the process of justice to the bench it leads to the high rate miscarriage of justice.
It was further gathered that Oyo State Ministry of Justice of short of staff and that some magistrates who are due for promotion a are being marginalized.
CJMR, in the petition letter appealed to the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Olukayade Ariwoola to urgently look into the issue with a view to ensure that justice is done to the case of the marginalized magistrates.