By Ayodele Oni
Succession crisis is rocking Ekiti State Judiciary as the State is set to appoint another substantive Chief Judge to succeed late Justice Oyewale Adeyeye who died in 2024.
After his death, Justice Lekan Ogunmoye was appointed in acting capacity pending the appointment of a new one.
The State Governor, Biodun Oyebanji, according to reports, has forwarded the name of Justice Ogunmoye to the National Judicial Service Commission, (NJC) for confirmation as the Chief Judge.
The decision has, however, led to protest by one of the most senior Judges in the State Judiciary, Justice Jide Aladejana, who saw the action of the Governor as a slight.
Aladejana, in a statement, insists that
his exclusion from the shortlist of nominees forwarded to the NJC for appointment as the next Chief Judge of Ekiti State contravenes judicial seniority convention, and also echoes a painful chapter of past injustice that saw him suspended from office for 16 years.
Justice Aladejana was suspended in 2006 following his alleged involvement in the controversial impeachment of former Governor Ayodele Fayose.
The NJC at the time, recommended his retirement, but the Ekiti State Government neither implemented the recommendation nor replaced him permanently.
Instead, the government continued to appeal for his reinstatement until it was approved in 2023.
“I was eventually reinstated after 16 years, during which the State government continued to treat me as a member of the judiciary.
“They sent me abroad for studies, appointed me to chair a judicial commission of inquiry on chieftaincy matters, and later made me Chairman of the Ekiti State Independent Electoral Commission.”
Justice Aladejana decried what he described as a “worrisome outcome” after the Ekiti State Judicial Service Commission (JSC) forwarded names to the NJC based on the preference of Governor Biodun Oyebanji.
According to him, the governor’s choice of Justice Lekan Ogunmoye, who was appointed to the bench nearly 12 years after him, raises constitutional and ethical questions.
He maintained that the state’s justification for his exclusion — that he was posted to Court 3 while Justice Ogunmoye sits in Court 2 — is “unconstitutional, against convention and common sense.”
He argued further that courtroom assignment is merely an administrative matter and not a determinant of judicial seniority.
“The Ekiti State government’s position that I am junior because I resumed in Court 3 is both misleading and unjust. It is shocking that after enduring 16 years of suspension based on a disputed NJC recommendation, I am once again being sidelined — this time from my rightful place in the hierarchy.”
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