Home » New Filling Fees: Obey the Court order, Activists tell Aregbesola

New Filling Fees: Obey the Court order, Activists tell Aregbesola

…..Says Aregbesola is a lawless Governor
A Civil group, the Civil Societies Coalition for the Emancipation of
Osun State (CSCEOS) has urged the State Governor, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola
to obey the order of the Federal High Court sitting in Osogbo, which
gave the interlocutory injunction last weeek that the State government
should maintain status quo pending the determination of the suit
before it on the controversial new filling fees.

The group alleged that the State government under the leadership of
Mr. Aregbesola was yet to obey the Court order and reverse to the old
filling fees regime, saying that disobedience of the Court order by
the State government was unacceptable to the good people of the State,
describing Aregbesola as a Lawless governor ever came to the
governance of the State since her creation in August 27,1991.

It further alleged that the State Chief Judge (CJ), Justice Adepele
Ojo was conspired with Mr. Aregbesola not to obey the Court order by
continuing with the new filling fees in the Registry of the State High
Court, alleging that the officials of the State High court refused to
revert to the old fees because the State government was yet to give
them directive on that effect.

Speaking through its Chairman, Comrade Adeniyi, Alimi Sulaiman in a
Signed Statement, which a copy was made available to Journalists on
Tuesday, disclosed that the investigation conducted by the members of
the group at the State High Court revealed that the State judicial
officials were refused to revert to the old fees because State
government yet to come out with official Circular in respect to the
Court Judgment.

They described the action of the State government as lawless, illegal,
unconstitutional, evil, ungodly, anathema, abomination, aberration,
anti-masses, satanic and crime against God and humanity, condemned the
State government for initially hike the filling fees, which was seeing
as a way to deny the masses of the State an access to justice and make
justice for sale to the highest bidder in the State.

It charged the Lawyers under the aegis of Nigeria Bar Association
(NBA) in the State, not to take the disobedience of Court order by the
State government with levity hands by ensuring that Aregbesola led
administration respect the order of the Court on this issue of
national importance, advising the NBA not to turn themselves to
toothless bulldog that could only bark but could bite.

According to the group, “Mr. Rauf Aregbesola must abide by the rule of
the law because he came to the governance of the State through the
sanctity of law as Laws are made for the assurance of peace, order and
good governance in the society. Failure of Rauf Aregbesola’s
government to abide by the order of the Court would not augur well for
our society and we will not hesitate to mobilize the mass of our
people for clamorous peaceful protest to ensure that the State
government obeys the order of the Federal High court on the subject
matter”.

Supporting its argument that “Law is meant to serve the end of justice
(Per Awogu,JCA in University of Calabar  vs. Ephraim(1993) 1NWLR
pt.271,at 551 at 556.Law will not able to serve the ends of justice
unless there exists an institutionalized  and effective frame work for
the enforcement of Laws made for peace, order and good government of
the society; while the Court is the last arbiter  of the common man,
most especially, downtrodden masses.

“In Nigeria, the Police Force Forms to organize institutionalized
framework of the Judgment, endowed with wide statutory powers of law
enforcement in line with Section (4) of the Police Act, Cap (359),
Laws of the Federation, Nigeria (1990) which provides inter alia: The
Police shall be invited and employed for the immediate arrest and
interrogation of anybody that against the Court Judgment without
further to the any Appellate Court  of that Jurisdiction; the
enforcement of law s and order by the Police against anybody
necessitates the exercise of restraint on individual or any government
who may be suspected of having ran foul of the law; such exercise of
restraint (prima facie) and the due enforcement of all laws and
regulations…is confrontational  to the sacred Liberty of the
individual”

It will be recalled that Justice Maureen Adaobi Onyetenu of the
Federal High Court sitting in Osogbo, had restrained Governor
Aregbesola from implementing the increment in the filing fees in the
best interest of the common man, ordered that the parties should
maintain status quo and the matter was adjourned to March 16, 2017 for
hearing.
Meanwhile, penultimate weeks, the State government through a Circular
signed by the Principal Registrar of the State High Court, Mr. Taiwo
Jacoob had announced increment in filling fees with immediate effect,
adding that the increment with 400 percent had affected the writ of
summon to increase from N4, 000 to N40, 000 while a divorce fees
jumped from N3, 000 to N25, 000.

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