October 3rd, 2012
The judge faces petitions on his personal conduct outside the room with the police and the NJC.
A Lagos Judge, Adeniyi Adebajo, who is enmeshed in several unethical controversies, is facing grave accusations from the most unlikely source, his mother.
Irene Adebajo, the mother of the Lagos State High Court Judge, has pleaded with the police to save her from her son, whom she accuses of harassment, attempted murder, theft, and other violent attacks.
Mrs. Adebajo, 87, is not the only one seeking help from the judge. A Lagos driver, whom Mr. Adebajo accused of trying to murder him, has also accused the judge of unbecoming conducts such as lying and falsifying information.
Various petitions now exist before the police and the National Judicial Council against Mr. Adebajo.
My son wants to kill me
Two months after resuming duty, the Lagos State Police Commissioner, Umar Manko, received a petition from a most unlikely source, the mother of a popular Lagos judge.
On May 31, Mrs. Adebajo addressed a three-page petition to Mr. Manko. The petition detailed several incidents of assault by the judge against the old woman.
At about 8:10 a.m. on Sunday morning, December 18, 2011, Mrs. Adebajo wrote, “my first son Justice Niyi Adebajo burst into my house and started to threaten me. He is always armed with a pistol… so, I was afraid.”
Mrs. Adebajo narrated how her son threatened to kill her in the presence of her nurse. Efforts by neighbours and the nurse to intervene were rebuffed by the gun-wielding judge who locked everyone out.
She said that was his third time of the violent attack, and on one of such occasions the judge carried out the assault in company of his wife. On another occasion, the octogenarian said, she was forced to go sleep with a neighbour after her son forced her out of the house.
The octogenarian also narrated how her son’s wife, Toyin, whipped her with a cane in the judge’s house. Her offence was that she slept on a settee meant for guests. Her son it was, the octogenarian said, who forced her into his house in the first place.
Evidence of battery
In order to prove the case of assault on her by her son, Mrs. Adeniyi attached a health report by Gbagada General Hospital in Lagos.
In the report signed by a Dr. A. Williams, the hospital stated that Mrs. Adebajo “was our patient who was rushed into the accident and emergency services of the hospital with the fact that she was assaulted which led to her having severe headache, pains all over her body, insomnia,…”
The hospital statement was written on December 19, a day after Mrs. Adebajo claimed her son assaulted her.
A thieving judge?
Perhaps more intriguing is the statement by Mrs. Adebajo that her son is a thief and has stolen a lot of her property. She alleged that while residing at the son’s place, the judge went to her house and stole her property.
“They (Judge and wife) had taken advantage of my absence to steal all my files, land documents, last will and testament, cheque books…” Mrs. Adebajo said.
The old woman also alleged that her son was having an affair with her female counsel, Mrs. Alonge, who was managing her property for her. She said she terminated the service of the counsel as she could no longer trust her.
She also told the police chief that though a judge, Mr. Adebajo was also a criminal.
He however was not alone in the crime, she said.
My other sons are thieves too
Mrs. Adebajo says it is not only her son, the judge that steals from her. Other sons do so too.
“My Son, Gboyega, steals my money and I have only just managed to withdraw my money and open a new account. He also carried some files sometimes ago,” the woman told the Lagos police boss. “He went to my tenants in Ojota and told them to pay their rents to him.”
She said her third son, Wemimo, was also interested in her property saying “Wemimo told me that I have to die soon so he can take over my house.”
According to Mrs. Adebajo, only her daughter is currently taking care of her.
Stop the judge from coming near me
In her petition, copied to the Inspector General of Police and the Director of State Security Services, Mrs. Adebajo said her life is in danger and she would want her sons restrained from coming near her.
“I am only lucky to be alive today,” she said adding that she is traumatized by what her sons her doing to her.
She also charged the Lagos police boss to help her recover property stolen from her by the judge and her two other sons.
“I gave my box of trinket to Niyi (the judge) to keep for me, he should please return it,” she said, also demanding the title documents of her lands in different parts of Lagos.
Mrs. Adebajo is however not the only one that needs help from the judge, a bus driver, Kasali Quadri also claims he needs same.
Bus driver vs. Lagos Judge
On March 5, a Lagos Magistrate Court judge ordered the detention without bail of Mr. Quadri. The driver was being prosecuted for attempting to kill Mr. Adebajo with his vehicle. The accused had pleaded not guilty to the one count charge but was denied bail. He’s been in prison since then.
But, a nongovernmental organisation, NGO, Against Injustice, has petitioned the National Judicial Council in Abuja, accusing Mr. Adebajo of using his influence to muddle up the case against the bus driver. The group claims that rather than the driver attempting to kill the judge, it was the judge that constituted a “public nuisance” on March 1, when the “near-accident” happened.
“Kasali Quadri was driving his commercial bus around Moloney way when Justice E. A. Adebajo came out of his vehicle and stood in the way of the bus Kasali Quadri was driving,” the NGO said.
“Kasali maneuvered the vehicle in order to move on with his passengers believing the man was an armed robber or lunatic, and the man threw himself at his vehicle.”
The group claimed that the allegation of attempted murder is false. It also claimed that the alleged three-month London treatment for the injury sustained from the accident was faked by Mr. Adebajo. The NGO therefore asked the NJC to investigate the matter properly and to ensure the release of Mr. Quadri, on bail, pending the determination of the suit.
Lagos Police
The Lagos State Police Command which received Mrs. Adebajo’s petition says it has not commenced investigations on the petition.
The police spokesperson, Ngozi Braide, said though the petition was submitted, the old woman should have “followed up.”
“You think just submitting a petition and running to press is everything. She needs to do a follow-up,” she said.
Ms. Braide explained that the complainant ought to get to know the investigating police officer from the police, and also write a fresh statement after meeting with the investigating officer.
