THE Osun State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has lauded a judgment of the Lagos High Court, which described any reference to “State of Lagos” as illegal and unknown to the constitution of the Nigeria.
Justice Ebenezer Adebajo of Lagos High Court sitting in Igbosere had, on Tuesday, dismissed a robbery charge against a 20-year-old man, David Monday, because the prosecuting authority was listed on the court process as “The State of Lagos,” which he said was not in existence.
Head of Osun PDP legal team and state chairman of the party, Chief Sunday Ojo Williams, in a statement on Wednesday, said the judgment should show that businessmen and financial institutions doing business with “The State of Osun” were engaging in illegalities.
“The implication of the judgment is far reaching on Osun State, where the illegality has been on for about three years now. We warned the ACN (Action Congress of Nigeria) government that everything they had been doing under the illegal State of Osun was a nullity, but it did not listen.
“We hope contractors and banks lending money to this government know the full implication of entering into agreements with a non-existing entity.
This judgment should be enough alert for them that impunity has no place in a democracy,” he said.
Justice Adebajo, while dismissing the case, had said: “Section 3 of the Constitution is headed States of the Federation. It is by virtue of this section that a state belonging to the federation, note the use of the word ‘of,’ is named as Lagos. Thus we have Lagos State.
“This application is brought against The State of Lagos. It is a state belonging to Lagos. Does Lagos own a state? Who is Lagos or what is Lagos?
“Lagos exists by virtue of Section 3 of the Constitution and it comprises of named Local Government Areas. To say The State of Lagos is to refer, in my opinion, to a state that belongs to Lagos.
“It is not the same thing as Lagos State. It is for this reason that I do not accept that the party against whom the application is brought exists and it is for this reason that the application is struck out,” the court ruled.
Counsel for the defendant, Miss O. Oduntan, said since the application was struck out due to non-existence of prosecution, it means the charge was of no existence.
Meanwhile, a political pressure group, the South West Defenders (SWD), has warned financial institutions, contractors, individuals and corporate organisations dealing with Osun State under its new identity “State of Osun” of the consequences of dealing with a non-existing entity.
The group, which raised the concern in a release issued by its national publicity secretary, Mr Lere Olayinka, said “State of Osun,” which Governor Rauf Aregbesola changed Osun State to, did not exist in the face of the law.
The group said it was alerting the unsuspecting public, because it was interested in safeguarding the interest of Nigerians, especially the Yorubas.
Olayinka said “by virtue of the judgment, contractors and financial institutions that are signing contractual agreements with Aregbesola’s State of Osun should know that they are dealing with a non-existing entity and that they will loose their investments in the event of dispute.”
Tribune.com.ng
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