The people of lwoye community of Ayedun, Oke-Ero Local Government Area of Kwara state, have appealed to Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq to direct the state Attorney General to exercise his powers judicially and judiciously.
The community at a press conference in Ilorin on Monday, addressed on their behalf by Barrister Akinmade. Y. Abolarin, also appealed to the state House of Assembly to invite the state Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Salman Jawondo, to appear before it and explain his stand in Ayedun and Iwoye matters.
Giving a background to their grievances against the state Attorney General, the spokesman of the community, alleged that "each time the monarch of the community and his supporters commit a crime, the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, readily comes to their rescue.
"The Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice is always available for a discontinuance of the criminal case.
"We are here this morning to bring these occurrences to the knowledge of His Excellency, the Governor of Kwara state, the Kwara state House of Assembly and the entire peace loving people of Kwara state," the spokesman declared.
He said in 2016, a direct complaint was filed at the Upper Area Court, Omu-Aran against the person of the Royal Highness, Oba Olusegun Abayomi Rotimi of Ayedun.
He said, the royal father was accused of forging a document belonging to the community and relating to Iwoye community.
Barrister Akinmade said the court fixed the hearing for the case UAC/CRF/35/2016-Niran Obaoye & 1 Or.Vs. Oba (Dr) Olusegun.O.Rotimi for 16/8/2016.
"But to everybody's dismay, the ministry of justice appeared with a message from the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice and discontinued the case citing the power of the Attorney General under Section 211 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, that was on 16th August,2016.
"Again on Sunday 13th June, 2021, two men Todimu Fayomi and Bisi Arinde, both of Ikotun and Moba Compounds of Ayedun respectively, attacked, assaulted and intimidated Chief Adeyemi Afolayan (The Odofin of Ile Agbe).
The spokesman said the two men allegedly forcefully removed the chieftaincy beads of the chief from his neck and cut the hand beads on his wrist.
Following their confessions, the state CID, charged them to court alongside two others on 19/8/2021.
However, Barrister Akinmade disclosed that on 30th September,2021, when the case was scheduled for further mention, a Chief state Counsel from the Ministry of Justice, appeared, took over the prosecution of the case and presented a letter of discontinuance from the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Kwara state.
"The case was discontinued and terminated by the Hon. Magistrate, Judge Muyiwa Abayomi," he added.
He described the action of the state Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in the two mentioned cases as "bias, injustice, abuse of legal process and acts clearly against public interest."
He cautioned that the activities of the Attorney General could lead to “one ugly direction in which the citizens become so disappointed and disenchanted in the system we operate."
He said the case was eventually discontinued and terminated by trial Magistrate Muyiwa Abayomi.
Barrister Akinmade argued that while " there is no doubt that special power conferred on the state Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice by Section 211(I) of the Nigerian Constitution, Section 221(3) of the same constitution guides the Attorney General that in exercising that power, he " shall have regard to the public interest, the interest of justice and the need to prevent abuse of legal processes."
But reacting, the Director of Public Prosecution, DPP, Mumini Adebimpe, SAN, in the state Ministry of Justice, who said he handled the case, expressed surprise, saying the allegations of Akinmade were “mere fallacies and misguided"
Adebimpe explained that a Kwara state high court judgment on 16/01/2020, convicted Barrister Akinmade's client, one Michael Sunday Ayantola, for allegedly parading himself illegally as Oba of Iwoye.
He said the convict, who is now deceased, was ordered by the court judgment to stop parading himself as Oba, report to the police for a whole year and to be of good behaviour. “Rather than obey the court judgment”, he said, “they went ahead to implicate four witnesses who testified for the government against them in court”
He said it was what informed the decision of the Ministry of Justice to stop the prosecution of the four persons, because it was a flagrant manipulation of the judicial process.
According to him, "Iwoye is just a compound within Ayedun and not an independent community or entity capable of producing an Oba,"
Corroborating the DPP's position, the Commissioner for Justice, Salman Jawondo, SAN, said" we can't fold our arms and allow people to use the machinery of prosecution to intimidate others, hence we stopped such actions and that was exactly what we did.
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