Top lawyers say bench warrant against Oluwo is “joke too far”

Eminent legal practitioners have described the bench warrant of arrest issued by a magistrate, Olusola Aluko, against a paramount traditional in Osun State, the Oluwo of Iwo, Oba Abdulrasheed Akanbi, as a joke taken too far.

Yusuf Ali, Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), and a former Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State, Ibrahim Olatoye-Lawal, described the purported bench warrant of arrest as a joke.

In a chat with Daily Trust at the main campus of Osun State University Osogbo, shortly after the 10th inaugural lecture of the university, Ali who is also the Pro-Chancellor of UNIOSUN cautioned against miscarriage of justice.

On whether the bench warrant of arrest on the Oluwo was appropriate as handed down by Magistrate Olusola Aluko, Ali said: “I read the story online. People are jokers. Just forget it. Didn’t you see the man here now”, (referring to Oluwo)The Oluwo, Oba Akanbi was also at the inaugural lecture which was delivered by Professor Oguntola Jelil Alamu, a professor of Mechanical Engineering in UNIOSUN who hails from Iwo.

Olatoye-Lawal while speaking with Daily Trust posited that the issuance of the bench warrant of arrest in a civil case between the Oluwo, Oba Akanbi and another king, the Oluwo-Oke of Iwo-Oke, Oba Kadiri Adeoye was a joke taken too far.

He queried: “Is Oluwo’s case before Magistrate Aluko not a civil case? Can a bench warrant be issued against a party in a civil case? This is simply a joke taken too far. It is not right.”