By Kayode Adeoti
A Senior Advocate of Nigeria(SAN), Paul Usoro has noted that the autonomy President Muhammad Buhari granted the judiciary penultimate week will enhance judges’ effectiveness.
Usoro who said the autonomy is long overdue added that it will aid speedy trial and fair judgement in the judiciary.
He noted this while fielding questions from newsmen during a one day workshop titled, ‘Veto Power in a Democratic Dispensation’ organised by Young Lawyers’ Forum (YLF) of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Ilorin branch, last Thursday.
“The autonomy will enhance the independence of the judiciary to make competent judgement without any fear. And we can’t have independence without been responsible for our expenditure. It means the sector can now carry out capital projects and judges can now do their jobs very well,” he said.
The Guest Speaker, Prof. Wahab Egbewole while delivering his paper posited that the concept of veto power has been misused and abused by the Nigerian political class.
“For the avoidance of doubt, veto is expected to serve as a check of abuse of power on the part of the two arms of government that are supposed to be partners in ensuring that the citizens receive good service for their investment by voting for the government.
“What it appears the political class in Nigeria is seeing is opportunity to blackmail and whip each other back to line. This in our view is a clear misunderstanding and misinterpretation of the constitution,” Egbewole stressed.
In his remarks, the Chairman of YLF, Olayinka Dauda Jimoh noted that the topic became imperative considering the turn of events among the three arms of government.
According to him, the issue has come under the front burner hence, the need to address it.
