Osun Lawmaker Appeals Court Judgment Barring Him From Rendering Pro-Bono Service
A member of the Osun State House of Assembly, Hon. Kanmi Ajibola, has headed to the Appeal Court in Akure over the judgment of the Federal High Court in Osogbo barring him for appearing in court to render free legal services for indigent suspects facing criminal charges.
Kanmi, a lawyer and a former Chairman of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Ilesa Branch had sought the permission of the court in suit No. FHC/OS/CS/42/2023 to allow him to continue to defend clients pro bono even as he remains an assemblyman.
But Justice Nathaniel Ayo-Emmanuel who struck down his suit said the lawmaker’s request was against the 1999 Constitution for public servants to engage in self-serving activities or businesses.
Dissatisfied with the lower court judgement, Ajibola filed a seven ground of appeal, arguing that the judge erred in law as he looked only at one direction of the case without carefully considering other facts of the matter.
The activist politician in his notice of appeal argued that the pro-bono service which he has been rendering since Year 2000 “is a public interest duty and not a personal interest or a private business, a trade or a profession for money making”.
He noted that the bone of contention why he filed the suit was how he was being threatened anytime he tried to defend those who had trumped up criminal matters but were unable to hire lawyers to defend them in court.
According to him, the two respondents in the case, the Attorney-General of the Federation and the Attorney-General of Osun State did not deny this fact, while noting that the lower court misinterpreted and misapplied the provisions of paragraphs 1, 2 (a) and (b) of the Fifth Schedule Part 1 of the 1999 constitution in his case.
The lawmaker said the lower court did not consider paragraph 18 of the affidavit in support of his originating summons where he cited the roles the Prisoners Aid Initiative, a Non-Goverment Organisation (NGO) he registered since 2008 has been playing and how several inmates have benefited from his free legal services.
Apart from using this medium to secure freedom of many innocent who were being subjected to trumped-up charges across the country, Ajibola informed the court that he was using the same NGO to assist the government in the area of prison decongestion.
Ajibola was elected as the lawmaker representing Oriade Constituency in the assembly on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during the 2023 general elections.
