FASHOLA REITERATES TOTAL SUPPORT FOR JUDICIARY’S INDEPENDENCE, EXPLAINS CHALLENGES ARISING FROM FINANCIAL AUTONOMY RULING …Urges Judiciary to show courage in the face of unpleasant news from Ekiti Lagos State Governor, Mr Babatunde Fashola, SAN on Friday attended the New Legal Year Dinner (2014/2015), reiterating his total support for the independence of the Judiciary which he affirmed as a necessary requirement for the sustenance of democratic governance. The Governor who spoke at the City Hall, Lagos against the backdrop of a recent court judgement which pronounced financial autonomy for the judiciary said the truth is that the court decision has created some challenges when considered against the backdrop of practical realities in funding budget proposals. “The truth is that there has been a decision that has created some difficulty and in the tradition of our profession, the right to contest a decision that creates difficulty is a right that we have come to take as almost God given, challenging to seek to modify it and where possible to seek to reverse it. That is not the same thing as disagreeing with an independent judiciary” “An independent judiciary is a necessary requirement for the sustenance of our democracy and the rule of law but a judgment has been given that all of the monies standing to the credit of the judiciary must be paid to it”, he stated. He, however, explained that the practicability of the situation is that whenever a budget proposal is presented at the beginning of the year, the cash to fund that budget is not in anyone’s pocket but accrues on a day to day basis. He added that in a State like Lagos, the cash to fund the budget comes from a combination of monthly remittances from the Federal Government which is paid at the end of the month and the daily payment that accrues from Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) as well as renewal of permits and payment for Land Use Charge among others. “I would like to learn the practicality of collecting those money on a day to day basis and handing them over to the judiciary. That is the difficulty that we are facing and we are thinking of how to find a practical solution to giving effect to what we belief in, which is that the judiciary must be self accounting. We have no problem at all about it. We have appealed but we are not disagreeable to working out a solution”, he stated. The Governor who also spoke about concerns being expressed by some people on the issue of ensuring that justice is done in terms of a collapsed structure of a faith based organization that resulted in loss of life gave a commitment that justice would be done. “Let me assure you that justice would be done but we would not resort to mob justice because that is not our way, this government is a government of methods. When incidents like these happen, there is a mixture of tragedy, possible accidents and possible crimes. It is only by painstaking investigations, collection of evidence that we can really get to the root of the matter”, he said. The Governor reiterated that at the point when he went to the scene, emergency responders were still at the stage of rescue, trying to see if more lives could be saved and that some people were impeding the operation of the emergency responders hence he had to ask such people to leave. He said his visit turned out to be fortuitous because one person was brought out alive noting that another hour under the rubble may have been fatal for the survivor. According to the Governor, with the completion of that process evidence have been gathered while tests are going on in the way the law requires the State Government to proceed, stressing that: “We are at the next stage when those who lost loved ones are grieving and want to bury them and we need to assist them to deal with the very painful part. We are struggling to identify bodies”. “We have opened up a centre asking people to come forward who are relatives so that they can give tissues and samples so that we can begin a very difficult and painful process of DNA identification. That is the point where we are, without prejudice to the investigation that is going on. That is where we are. We would not be stampeded into doing anything that is not supported by the processes and methods that are in consonance with the law. Governor Fashola congratulated the new Chief Judge, Justice Atilade for her sense of continuity of keeping the tradition that was developed by her immediate predecessor in office who also happens to be her sibling. “I believe that this is the way that it should be, to keep what one has met, to improve upon it and also to add one’s ideas. If they say that institutions work, it is because men and women have done the right things and I think she has started by doing the right things”, he added. He also congratulated everyone for witnessing the commencement of another legal year in which divine guidance has been sought as the public service of dispensing justice between men and men, between women and women and between institution and institutions begin. While praying that through the guidance of God, the officers of the law would do justice impartially for all of those who come before them, he added that prayers alone would not take the practitioners there but that they would need to be courageous too. “We would need to work hard in the public space. There would be always be fear but I tell you, fear is good because I experience fear every day, fear that something would go wrong but in spite of that fear, I rise up every day to confront the challenges that I meet and I am sure that I speak your minds too that many of you. given the complexity of cases that have come before you , there have been occasions where there have been fears and in spite of that you have remained undeterred and have proceeded with dignity to deal with the cases as you understand them. That is courage, dignity and the resolve to proceed in spite of fear”, he maintained. Expatiating on the topic of fear, Governor Fashola said in times of conflicts in civil society, everyone has a role to play; stating that when there is a threat to peace and good neighbourliness or a threat to law and order, there is are people whose job it is to rise up and respond. He identified such people as Policemen and women who are the ones that are trained to do so and also bear arms, saying one can assume that they also experience fear but in spite of that, they have a job to do. “It is in this sense that when a nation is under threat, it rallies its Armed Forces, men and women who have signed from the word go to lay down their lives whenever it becomes necessary to do so in order to protect their nation. Sometimes, such people go through a career of service without experiencing wars and sometimes that is what they face on the first day at work”, he noted. Fashola also said health workers are no different as they are the first line of defence against any threat to public health and as was experienced in Lagos at a time when the State faced a threat to public health and safety, the Lagos State public health work force rose up to do their duty. “In all of the stories that continue to unfold about individual experiences, you might have heard the story of a young nurse whose first day at work was that day on July21 and it is an experience that will stay with her for the rest of her life but she is a survivor and also a fighter and also a public officer”. “So when there is a threat to the rule of law, we have no one to look to except to you as judicial officers to stand up and be our first line of defence and this I belief is the time that you need to show courage. The news coming out of Ekiti State about an assault on the judiciary is not a pleasant one. The judiciary must show courage and stand together”, he stressed. The Governor was later joined by the Chief Judge, Hon Justice Funmilayo Atilade, the Solicitor General and Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Justice, Mr Lawal Pedro, SAN and other senior judges in cutting the cake to usher in the new legal year.
Posted on: Sat, 27 Sep 2014 21:42:57 +0000
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