Osun: ALGON, APC commend High Court for quashing charges against UBA officials
By Deborah Oladejo, Osogbo –
The Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON), Osun State chapter, has commended the State High Court for granting an order quashing the criminal charges filed against United Bank for Africa (UBA) and three of its staff.
The order was granted on Friday by the Osun State High Court sitting in Osogbo, presided over by Justice Matthias Agboola, in Suit No. HOS/M4/, following a motion ex parte seeking to quash the criminal proceedings against UBA and its staff.
Prior to the ruling, Magistrate A. A. Adeyeba, who is also a party in the suit, had issued a bench warrant against some officials of the bank, despite a pending High Court matter seeking to quash the proceedings before the Magistrate’s Court.
Reacting to the development, the ALGON Chairman in the state, Hon. Idowu Abiodun, described the decision of the High Court as an affirmation of the supremacy of the rule of law, faulting the issuance of the bench warrant by the Magistrate’s Court.
“It beats the imagination of any right-thinking member of the public that a Magistrate, who is expected to uphold the rule of law, would snub the same law and descend on innocent officials of the bank who have chosen to be law-abiding by approaching the State High Court to ventilate their grievances over the illegality being arranged at the Magistrate’s Court,” Abiodun said.
He urged members of the public to remain calm and law-abiding, noting that the matter was already being lawfully addressed through the judicial process.
Meanwhile, the All Progressives Congress (APC), through its Director of Media, Chief Kola Olabisi, also welcomed the High Court ruling, describing the bench warrant issued against the UBA staff as “dead on arrival.”
He berated Governor Ademola Adeleke over what he described as a display of ignorance concerning the controversial bench warrant order issued by an Osogbo Magistrate’s Court on Friday.
