As the governor of Ogun State, Mr Dapo Abiodun swears in a new Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Oluwasina Ogungbade, a Senior Advocate designate today, Monday November 29, fresh facts continue to emerge on the real reason behind the resignation of the immediate past occupier of the office, Mr Akingbolahan Adeniran.
This is notwithstanding the diplomatic manoeuvring engaged in by Adeniran to explain the real reason he resigned his appointment.
The swearing in of Ogungbade was initially scheduled to take place last Friday. Word had been sent out and top dignitaries that were supposed to attend the ceremony were already gathered before the event was postponed. No reason was given for this action. But not a few people were irked at the way Adeniran was treated by the governor.
The former Attorney General had given a month notice in lieu of his resignation from office. Many people believed the governor ought to have at least allowed the one month notice to expire before the swearing in of the new AG. Officials of the state Ministry of Justice after getting wind of the swearing in had to quickly organized a send off for Adeniran. Sources revealed that the one month notice will lapse on December 8. It is not however clear if this was the reason for the postponement.
What is however clear is that Adeniran is leaving office with his integrity intact. A member of the State Executive Council who craved anonymity volunteered to Gavel International that the Adeniran resigned his appointment to save the integrity of the professionals in the Ministry of Justice.
“Not once, not twice that the Secretary to the State Government have approached the AG to upturn or tinker with the advise given to the state governor over burning state issues to suit one party or the other, advises that are quite obvious to be against the natural cause of justice.
“The AG would not want to have any of such. He comes clean and has remained committed to upholding professional ethics. At a point that he could not stop those in government coming to pervert the course of justice was when he resigned,” a close confidant and member of the State Executive council obliged the Gavel International.
The ally, who is also privy to the new lease of life Adeniran breathed into the administration of justice however said the loss of Ogun State in Adeniran would be the gains of whoever hires him, being a corporate practitioner always driven by integrity.
Amongst the many achievements of the immediate past AG was the provision of e-library for the Ministry of Justice; facilitation and provision of befitting conference to the Ministry; stepping up of capacity building for counsels.
Adeniran also in his statement that debunked the corruption story on his resignation and said: I am indeed very proud of what we have been able to achieve in the administration of justice over the past two years, including:
- Improved accessibility of justice for the average citizen through the Ogun Public Interest Law Partnership which matches indigent clients with pro bono lawyers;
- Protection of the rights of suspects in detention through regular inspections by duty solicitors engaged under the Police Duty Solicitor Scheme;
- Use of technology to monitor the plight of pre-trial detainees with the Corrections Information Management System and Justice Clock;
- Gradual introduction of forensics into policing;
- Introduction of the Case Management and Scheduling System in conjunction with the Ogun State Judiciary;
The source in government said Adeniran enjoyed the support of governor Dapo Abiodun because he never pushed for things that would not impact the majority. “We will miss his altruistic nature”, a Lawyer in the Ministry also confided in the Gavel International.
When our reporter approached Mr Adeniran for comments via a telephone call, he politely declined. ” I don’t want to comment on the issue please”, he said.
Adeniran will is not the first Attorney General that will tender his resignation Ogun State. Mr. Wemimo Ogunde SAN also resigned his appointment during the immediate past Government of Senator Ibikunle Amosun’s first term of office.
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