Ekiti State Governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose, has described Federal High Court, Abuja judge Okon Abang as a disgrace to the judiciary. He called on the National Judicial Council (NJC) to “save the judiciary from this disgrace called Okon Abang by showing him the way out of the bench.”
Governor Fayose, in his reaction to the Appeal Court judgment, which nullified Abang’s ruling of the October 14, 2016 and declared it as a fraud, said: “It is obvious that Justice Abang is representing the dirty interests of some cabals, who are protecting him despite the incalculable damages he has done to the judiciary.”
In a statement issued on Wednesday and signed by the governor’s Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, he said: “In the face of these indictments by the appellate court, NJC must wade in and save the judiciary from Abang.”
Fayose said a judge who gives fraudulent judgments is even more dangerous than armed robbers, adding: “Those running after judges for alleged corruption and excluding a judge like Abang may not be far from being the beneficiaries of his (Abang) fraudulent judgments.”
The governor said “a judge like Abang is a cankerworm that can destroy the country if not removed totally before he does further damage to the polity.”
He noted: “Today again, three justices of the appeal court descended on Justice Abang, describing his judgments imposing Jimoh Ibrahim as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in Ondo State and the one affirming Senator Ali Modu Sheriff and the PDP National Chairman as fraudulent.
“It should be recalled that in June, a five-member panel of the court of appeal led by Justice Morenike Ogunwumiju said Abang “raped democracy” when he annulled the election Abia State Governor, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu and ordered INEC to issue a certificate of return to Mr. Samson Ogah without evidence of forgery against Dr. Ikpeazu. The court went on to say that Abang embarked on a wild goose chase and that he spoke from both sides of his mouth.
“These are clear indictments on Justice Abang and in a civilised society; he ought to have resigned without the prompting of anyone. Or how can a judge that has been adjudged severally as giving fraudulent judgments and acting like Father Christmas still sit in judgment over cases involving Nigerians?
“The judiciary, being the last hope of the common man must therefore be purged of elements like Abang and NJC must do the needful by sacking him forthwith so that the bench can have a new lease of life.”