Secretary’s transfer sparks Osun judicial commission row

The Osun State Judiciary may be heading for a fresh crisis following a disagreement within the Judicial Service Commission over the appointment of its secretary.

The brewing crisis reportedly reached its peak last Monday when the commission’s secretary, Abosede Fagbola, was allegedly locked out of her office.

During visits to the commission’s office last Wednesday and Friday, The PUNCH observed that the secretary’s office was shut.

Sources within the commission, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of victimisation, said the crisis was triggered by Fagbola’s controversial transfer to the Osun State University Teaching Hospital.

According to a letter obtained by The PUNCH, Fagbola, a lawyer, was transferred through a memo issued by the Office of the Head of Service.

The sources further said Fagbola was replaced by the commission’s Assistant Director of Administration and Supplies, Isiaka Alao, who is not a lawyer.

The development reportedly raised questions about compliance with the provisions of a gazetted law said to require the appointment of a lawyer as JSC secretary.

In a series of events leading to the dispute, it was learnt that Fagbola, in her capacity as the commission’s secretary and acting on the directive of the state Chief Judge, Justice Adepele Ojo, who chairs the commission, had transferred Alao to the Osun State Customary Court of Appeal.

Documents obtained exclusively by The PUNCH on Sunday showed that Fagbola, in a letter dated September 14, 2026, with reference number JSC/OS/TRD/2026/001, informed Alao of his transfer to the Osun State Customary Court of Appeal.

However, in a letter dated September 18, 2026, with reference number SMD.3/Vol.VI/135, O. Omishakin, on behalf of the Permanent Secretary, Public Service Office, Office of the Head of Service, directed Fagbola to proceed on transfer to the UNIOSUN Teaching Hospital.

The letter also directed Alao to assume office as JSC secretary in an acting capacity.

Displeased with the transfer, Fagbola petitioned the commission’s vice-chairman, who is the President of the Customary Court of Appeal. She alleged that Alao had refused to move following his transfer, described her own transfer as punitive and demanded its reversal.

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The petition read: “To my profound surprise, barely four days after the said directive was communicated, I received the Public Service Office circular dated 18th September, 2026, with Reference No. SMD.3/VOL.VI/135, titled ‘DEPLOYMENT OF OFFICER.’

“The circular approved my deployment from my position as Secretary, Osun State Judicial Service Commission, to Osun State University Teaching Hospital, while simultaneously directing that Mr Isiaka Kolawole Alao be deployed to act as Secretary, Judicial Service Commission. The sequence and circumstances of these developments have caused me considerable concern.

“In particular, the fact that my deployment occurred shortly after I implemented the directive concerning the transfer of the said officer, followed by the designation of the same officer to act as secretary of the commission, has created a situation which I respectfully believe warrants the attention and intervention of Your Lordship.”

However, a gazetted law titled Retirement Age Law on the Office of CR of Osun State High Court of Justice, CR Customary Court of Appeal, signed by the Clerk of the House, Simeon Amusan, and the Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Adewale Egbedun, states that the commission’s secretary, who is its accounting officer, “must be a career lawyer in the service of the Osun State Government.”

When contacted for his reaction, the Osun State Chairman of the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria, Idris Adeniran, said the gazetted law requiring a lawyer to be appointed JSC secretary had received the necessary approval but was not the law establishing the commission.

He said the law extended the retirement age to 65 for certain judicial officers and officials, including chief registrars, deputy chief registrars, the secretary to the JSC, who must be a legal practitioner, magistrates and presidents of district customary courts.

He added that the law extending the retirement age should be distinguished from the law establishing the commission.

“Historically, before Mrs Fagbola became the first legal practitioner to occupy the office of Secretary to the Commission, the position was traditionally occupied by career officers.

“Those who served as secretaries of the commission included Mr Akanmu, Mr Oyedeji, Mr S. O. Oni, and Mrs Olayinka Ibiyemi Oderinde, all of whom were non-lawyers,” Adeniran said.

He added that legal practitioners began occupying the office during the tenure of the late Chief Judge, Justice Ojo, and that the practice continued with Fagbola, who served as secretary in 2012, and subsequently with another legal practitioner, Mr Obidiya.

“However, to the best of my knowledge, the Establishment Law of the Commission does not expressly provide that the position must be occupied by a legal practitioner,” Adeniran said in a statement sent to The PUNCH on Sunday.

Adeniran maintained that career officers within the judiciary deserved a fair opportunity to rise through the ranks and attain the highest levels of their administrative careers, adding that he would continue to defend the interests of his members.