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Osun Accord Condemns Attack on Judge by APC, Saka Layonu, SAN
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● Says Judge Complies with Law by not Staying Criminal Proceedings
Accord, Osun State chapter has condemned APC and one of its lawyer, Saka Layonu, SAN for attempting to disrupt court proceeding and disrespecting Magistrate Adeyeba within the court premises.
Accord Chairman, Pastor Victor Akande in a statement on Tuesday described the incident as a brazen assault on the bench and impunity taken too far.
He thereafter call on the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) and the Body of Benchers to investigate and sanctions Mr Layonu appropriately.
The statement reads, “The Accord has strongly defended the Magistrate A. A. Adeyeba ruling on the ongoing criminal case against the United Bank for Africa (UBA) and condemned contempt against the bench by Saka Layonu, SAN who openly threatened the magistrate at the court today.
“The Accord described the brazen assault on the bench as impunity taken too far coming from a senior member of the bar and called for the initiation of a disciplinary action as quickly as possible.
“The party noted the long list of barefaced violations of the law by the Osun state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and was alarmed that the party could be that shameless to extend its serial violations and breaches of the law and the constitution to the bench.
“Accord reviewed the proceedings and concluded that what the UBA and the APC called on the magistrate to do was to violate Section 306 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015, by stepping down an ongoing criminal case.
“According to the party, the magistrate would have erred in law by staying the criminal proceedings because of a supposed case on warrant of arrest in another court, declaring that the judge complied with the law and conformed with compliance requirements.
“Accord submitted that It is a settled rule in Nigerian law that where both a criminal and a civil action arise from the same set of facts, the criminal case generally takes precedence.
“Any abiding courts would refuse to stay criminal proceedings simply because a related civil suit is pending, as seen in various Supreme Court of Nigeria rulings.
“Under Section 306 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015, an application for a stay of proceedings in a criminal matter shall not be entertained to prevent defendants from using interlocutory appeals to stall cases for years.
“The party further submitted that if there is any person that should face disciplinary procedures, it should be Dr Layonu SAN who openly and brazenly threatened a Magistrate that was only doing her statutory job.
“We call on the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) and the Body of Benchers to investigate and sanctions Mr Layonu, a senior lawyer who threw caution to the wind and who almost disrupted court proceedings.”, the state chairman of Accord , Pastor Akande noted.
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