Nigeria’s National Judicial Council (NJC), on Thursday, recommended the compulsory retirement of a judge of the Osun State High Court, Justice S. O. Falola.
Falola was found guilty by the NJC for granting a garnishee order absolute against Polaris Bank for the sum of N283,174,000.00 in a questionable manner.
Reports say, the Osun State judge erred by entertaining proceedings for enforcement of a judgement purportedly from a Kwara State court “when there was no evidence of a judgement of the Kwara State High Court before him, neither was there a Certificate of Registration of same in Osun State to confer jurisdiction on him.”
In a statement, the Director of Information, NJC, Adesoji Oye, said the investigation committee found that Falola travelled to Lagos to visit the counsel for the bank on the issue of garnishee proceedings, an action it described as unprofessional.
Oye said: “The National Judicial Council, under the Chairmanship of Hon. Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, GCON, at its 104th Meeting of 6 and 7 December 2023, has recommended the compulsory retirement of Honourable Justice S. O. Falola of the Osun State High Court from the bench.
“The recommendation was made sequel to the findings of an investigation committee in a petition written against His Lordship by Mr. Dapo Kolapo Olowo and Polaris Bank for granting a garnishee order absolute against the bank for the sum of N283,174,000.00 questionably and strangely, and endorsement of the order, attaching the account of the garnishee with another garnishee and not the account of the judgment debtor, who had the legal obligation to pay the supposed judgment sum.
“It further found the conduct of the subject judge, travelling to Lagos to visit the counsel for the bank in his chambers on the issue of garnishee proceedings, unbecoming of the standard expected of a judicial officer.”
The NJC spokesman said the council had recommended to Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State to compulsorily retire Justice Falola with immediate effect.
Oye noted that the NJC had suspended Falola from office pending the approval of the recommendation of his compulsory retirement by the state governor.