We’re embarking on law reforms – Oyo AG

Prof Oyelowo Oyewo is a former Dean, Faculty of Law, University of Lagos and now Oyo State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice. In this interview, he speaks on regional security, anti-corruption law and sundry issues. Excerpts:   Tell us more about the Oyo State Anti-corruption agency? We had our Anti-Corruption Laws before Lagos. Lagos […]

Prof Oyelowo Oyewo is a former Dean, Faculty of Law, University of Lagos and now Oyo State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice. In this interview, he speaks on regional security, anti-corruption law and sundry issues. Excerpts:

 

Tell us more about the Oyo State Anti-corruption agency?

We had our Anti-Corruption Laws before Lagos. Lagos comes after us. We might not blow our trumpets, in fact when they were talking about anti-corruption; we had done ours in 2020. Our law is in tandem with the Supreme Court interpretation of the role of the state in anti-corruption based on constitutional provision, as opposed to some of the clauses present in Lagos State laws.

So, we have been working very hard, doing many things. I think during this period, we too will let the public know without necessarily blowing our trumpets, but educate the public and let them be informed on some of the fundamental changes that are going on in Oyo State.

Thankfully, we have complementary development at the federal level that is impacting us. An example is the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway that is being transformed. It used to take about 3-5 hours travelling from end to end, but now it takes just about 1½ hours, and I believe it’ll be reduced to an hour eventually. A lot of people have been pulled away by the train also. I travel to and from Lagos by train, and it is fantastic.

The trains have first class, second class, business class and standard coaches. In fact, the sitting arrangements of first-class coaches on the train are more comfortable than the ones in planes, and they have good toilet facilities.

What I mean by all this is that as development comes, this state is being transformed quietly, and those who want to invest should do so now because, by the time they see the impact of the transformation, it will be too expensive.

What is your assessment on the recent hosting of the conference of the NBA Section on Public Interest and Development Law in the state?

The conference had been judged to be very successful, and these are the words of the President of the NBA. After the conference, the governor hosted the NBA to a dinner.

When you look at the planning and the topics, every session had a topical issue that was discussed, relevant to the development of Nigeria, which of course was the theme, ‘Public Interest for National Development’.

Also, the state executives that participated from all over the country such as the Bauchi State Governor Bala Mohammed; Ondo State Governor Olurotimi Akeredolu (SAN); Senator Ike Ekweremadu, the host of the conference, both the inner and outer bar, Mrs Folake Solanke (SAN) at 89 participated actively.

What is the success recorded by the Oyo State Ministry of Justice?

For the first time in Oyo State, those who applied to become judges were made to sit for exams and were interviewed, and I’m proud to say that out of the four people that were sent, the two who scored the highest are on the list; one of them being a Professor of Law. So, the process is objectively meritorious, which means we’re putting square pegs in square holes.

I believe that the Oyo State judiciary and other personnel recruitment process are the better for it because you have merit you have dedication, commitment, good quality and professionalism coming out of the process, and that is what the administration of Governor Seyi Makinde stands for. I believe as we progress, more successes would be recorded.

We’ve made so many laws within a short time. We are embarking on the process of law reforms that we inherited. We are going to establish a Law Reform Commission. We’ve established the Office of the Public Defender, the Oyo State Anti-corruption Agency. We’ve done so much related to governance.

There are different accounts of the crises in Oyo State with the Igangan and Shasha crisis as the most prominent. How are these problems being handled?

Well, the gift that Oyo State has is in the leadership of Governor Seyi Makinde, who is highly cerebral, endowed with experience, calm in the face of problems, and reflective to a point that can sometimes be exasperating. He thinks 10 steps ahead, so when you bring a problem to him, he’s not going to have a knee jerk reaction to it, and he has a comprehensive approach to problems that makes the solution look easy.

When we faced the issue of insecurity, the governors of the South-West got together and came up with a regional network, the Western Nigerian Security Network given the mandate to the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN) Commission. Then we also have the Amotekun.

I tell you, there’s been a positive impact on the activities of Amotekun. We also have an inter-agency collaboration that we call ‘Operation Bust’. And then, the governor also believes in involving non-governmental actors in activities that hitherto were mainly dominated by governmental actors. So, non-governmental actors were brought in because they too are stakeholders; so also traditional rulers and local governments.

How is the case of the arrest of OPC members who claimed they arrested Fulani herders at Igangan?

There is nothing that goes on in the state that the state government doesn’t get involved in. There was a lot of misinformation on social media with respect to this particular saga. It was in Ibarapa. I think some people who had been settlers as Hausa-Fulani selling cows in that area, their children in collaboration with the people there started engaging in kidnapping.

There is an adage that says if the wall doesn’t open its mouth, the gecko cannot enter it. From security reports, most of those activities had the indigenes involved in it too. At the end of the day, when OPC went there, although they didn’t go alone, I think they went there with some other agencies, and at the end of the day, those people were arrested.

Now, the challenge is which story to believe. Some said they killed a pregnant woman, but there was no direct evidence of it, the OPC that went claimed that they were involved in kidnappings and it was said ‘okay, where is the evidence?’

So, it became an evidential burden to produce direct eyewitness accounts, it was the storytelling. But at the end of the day, the administration waded in and in collaboration with the police. I think the matter has been put in proper perspective.

Those who should be released were released, those who require further investigation are being investigated, and we would soon release the names of those to be prosecuted.