The Pan Yoruba group, Oodua Nationalist Coalition, (ONAC) has called on the Osun State judge, Justice Oloyede Folahanmi to resign from the judiciary in the state.
ONAC, which is a coalition of several Pan Yoruba groups said since the judge was ready to defend the allegations made against the Governor of the State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, it is logical for the petitioner to resign from the bench for her to be able to defend her allegations without ‘institutional bias.’
Making the call in a statement issued in Lagos today the O’Odua Nationalist Coalition and signed by the Deputy Chairman, Adeyemi Atiba, said the allegations raised by the judge will have full judicial and moral weight if only she resigns to defend those allegations in the court.
In the statement, ONAC said “We urge you, Justice Folahanmi to resign. These are serious legal and moral issues involved in the allegations raised by the judge. The best thing for her is to resign. Her resignation from the bench is necessary because we do not expect her to be a member of the same judicial institution that is expected to hear the allegations she has raised. She cannot be a sitting judge at the same time giving evidence in any court of competent jurisdiction or panel that the House of Assembly may wish to constitute.
The statement read further “Justice Folahanmi will prove her commitment to any sense of decency if she quits the bench today and not a minute later. This is the right thing to do at the moment. She is now a witness, she cannot at the same time sit on the judiciary as a prosecutor. We want to see her throw in her resignation to be able to pursue the issues she has raised as a star witness.”
ONAC urged her to resign adding that there are outstanding allegations against the judge for the alleged ignoble role she played in the Tribunal led by Justice Naron which heard the petition against the Peoples Democratic People (PDP), following irregularities and graft at the Tribunal associated with the 2007 gubernatorial election in the state of Osun.
