A retired Kogi State High Court judge who halted then-Governor Yahaya Bello’s effort to remove the state’s Chief Judge was later denied elevation to the Court of Appeal after the state government allegedly backed a rival candidate, according to a lawyer’s account.
Justice Alaba Omolaye-Ajileye delivered a June 18, 2019 judgment declaring unlawful the actions of Bello and the Kogi State House of Assembly against Chief Judge Nasir Ajanah. Lawyer A.K. Musa, writing in an article titled “The Judge Who Saved The Careers Of Two Chief Judges: A Story Of Judicial Courage, Institutional Fidelity And The Price Of Independence,” says the state government subsequently opposed the judge’s promotion by sponsoring another candidate.
The 2019 dispute began after the Secretary to the State Government requested judicial staff payroll records on November 14, 2018 for a verification exercise. The judiciary’s Chief Registrar, Yahya Adamu, replied that the judiciary was an independent arm of government responsible for its own affairs through the Judicial Service Commission. Bello later petitioned then-Chief Justice of Nigeria Walter Onnoghen seeking disciplinary action against Ajanah and asking that he step aside from certain duties. The House of Assembly, on April 2, 2019, passed a resolution calling for Ajanah’s removal and disciplinary measures against the Chief Registrar.
Ajanah challenged the moves in court. Justice Omolaye-Ajileye ruled that the governor and Assembly had acted unlawfully. Musa describes the decision as a defence of judicial independence. The lawyer says the judge faced death threats during the proceedings and that suspected political thugs invaded the courtroom.
Legal scholar and former National Human Rights Commission chairman Professor Chidi Anselm Odinkalu, cited in the article, has described Omolaye-Ajileye as “a man of courage and learning whose judicial record was unblemished.” Odinkalu also reported that the Bello administration indicated it could no longer guarantee the judge’s safety and that the government indirectly opposed his elevation to the Court of Appeal by backing another candidate.
The article states that Ajanah himself faced repercussions. He was excluded from official state functions after the judgment. On May 21, 2020, during the swearing-in of a new Grand Khadi, the governor’s Chief Security Officer reportedly informed Ajanah that the governor had directed he should not attend. Odinkalu is quoted as saying Ajanah later relocated to Abuja, contracted COVID-19 and died in isolation in Gwagwalada on June 28, 2020.
Justice Omolaye-Ajileye had earlier intervened in a similar confrontation. In 2008, the Kogi State House of Assembly passed a resolution seeking the removal of then-Chief Judge Umaru Eri. Acting Governor Clarence Olafemi announced Eri’s removal and named Justice Sam Ota to act in the post, but Ota declined. Eri maintained that the pressure followed his refusal to act as an intermediary in an alleged attempt to bribe an election petition tribunal. On May 16, 2008, Justice Omolaye-Ajileye set aside the purported removal and reinstated Eri.
In a 2006 judgment, the same judge reversed the deposition of Tijani Audu, the traditional ruler of Ogbonicha and brother of former Governor Abubakar Audu, holding that political vendetta could not be ruled out in the action taken by the administration of then-Governor Ibrahim Idris.
Justice Omolaye-Ajileye retired from the Kogi State judiciary in February 2023. He is also a legal scholar specialising in digital evidence and the author of the publication Electronic Evidence.
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