EKSU-SU Press on Monday held an interview with the Chief Judge of the students' union, Justice Aina Ayodeji and below is the excerpts

PRESS- Good morning, can we meet you?
C-JUDGE- My name is Samson ayodeji Aina,the chief judge of eksu su,from faculty of law 500level.

PRESS- over the years in Eksu,the role of the judiciary has been like a figure head role,without impact. How did you feel when the case between sen.Abdulazeez Abdulwaheef versus the SSC was brought to the SJC?
C-JUDGE- Thank you very much,it has not been the case that over the years,the role of the students judiciary council has been a dormant one,that is a misrepresentation of history,I have been in this school since 2006 and I have been following up the sjc activities and I can assure you that it has been a very vibrant one,I could remember vividly when I was in faculty of arts, there was a case we took to the sjc between the speaker of the ASRC and the members so the sjc has been a very vibrant one but the major problem we have in the sjc is that students are not aware of this council,so it will not amuse you that so many of the senators and the CEC members are not aware of what the sjc can do for them,they slept on their right, a lot of things actually went wrong,and being a kind of unbias empire, it is not the duty of the sjc to institute any case,even when we perceive or when we actually see the wrong. It is the decision of a party to come before us so that we can adjudicate and believe me,before the case of the senate president and members which actually involved Mr president,we have had series of cases, people have been coming for series of applications before the court. For instance,we have some senators who came to seek for court injunction, so a lot has been brought before the court and the court has been doing justice to those issues. The major problem is that the publicity was not there,until we had this high profile case,eksuites are now aware that we have a very vibrant judiciary council that can actually adjudicate on their matters.

PRESS- o.k,can you just enlighten us as it will help so many eksuites, what are the duties of the judiciary,what are the cases that can be brought to the sjc?
C-JUDGE- Thank you very much,presently there Is an information ongoing at the level of the students union government, the senators were in the process of giving us a new constitution, and presently the sjc under my watch,we are trying to bring out eksu su civil procedure rules,the jurisdiction of the sjc,though limited to civil cases,we don't have any jurisdiction over criminal cases. But let me tell you that it cuts across dispute among the CEC members,dispute among the SSC, dispute between the CEC and the SSC members,interpretation of many sections of the eksu su constitution and any other faculty or departmental or any registered association under eksu. If you have any issue with the association or organisation you belong to,you can drag them to the sjc for proper interrogation of any of the letter of your constitution. So the jurisdiction of the SJC covers these areas,but it is very pathetic that so many students are not aware of this,but when it comes to criminal cases it will be referred to the students disciplinary committee.

PRESS- To some extent, would you say the students Can put their trust in the sjc that when they bring issues,they will get fair judgement? C-JUDGE- oh obviously, you see I always say this,even in the midst of a perversed generation that we are,despite the level of moral decadence we are experiencing in our society I still have to say this,that if justice cannot be found in the court of law,then the society is doomed. So the judiciary should be the hope of a common man and just as eksuites have witnesses the last high profile case that we treated before our court,I can assure every eksuites that justice will not only be seen,but it will be seen to be done in the sjc,so anybody who deem it fit to come before the sjc even while I am still there,and when I will not be there,can be rest assured that justice will not only be seen but will be seen to be done.

PRESS- How do students get to join the sjc,do we have only students from faculty of law or we get students there by appointment?
C-JUDGE- Thank you very much,the sjc comprises of a representative from all faculties in this school,while two will come from faculty of law and the most senior from law faculty will automatically become the chief judge. So each faculty ought to be duly represented in the sjc,but it is quite unfortunate that so many faculties did not turn up to produce a representative, the truth is many of them are not even aware that they ought to produce a representative at the level of sjc, that is still the position of the law and I want to believe that ,that is what the senators will retain in the ongoing process, so whenever the ban is been lifted,you apply through the electoral committee, you will be duly screened and inaugurated as a member of sjc.

PRESS- During the case of sen.Abdulwaheed and the SSC which partially involved the students union president, we want to believe that to an extent you would have faced some challenges and if possible threats, how were you able to handle them?
C.JUDGE- Thank you very much,well not all depends on the maturity of the mind,well let me tell you,even though we heard some informations from various quarters, as to the issue of security,but directly I never faced any threat,the reason I want to believe is that,parties concerned having been aware of my personal integrity which have never been put to stake at any level,so they knew I will never compromise, so there wouldn't have been any threat from either parties,even though we heard some insinuations, i want to believe they are not true and that is the more reason why we applied precautionary measures by inviting the security agents while giving the judgement, not for we the judges alone,but at last to make sure that there is decorum among the students while was been read. So I wouldn't say I received any threat from anybody,why will I be threatened since I am doing my official duty,am acting in that capacity,it is the system,it is the law that says and not my personal person Samson Ayodeji Aina,so the chief judge is only acting in that capacity, I am only applying the law to the fact before me,so it all depends on how parties were able to present their case before the judge.

PRESS- We heard at a particular point that you were picked by senator abdulwaheed to be the chief judge and that was why the court case was in his favour.
C-JUDGE- Oh,that is a misrepresentation of fact,you see I could remember during the regime of sugarito,that was 2013 to be precise,I was the chief judge of eksu su, we actually had a vacuum of a session whereby election was not conducted due to negligence of some people,then I was in 300level so when i was in 400level,there was a vacuum and when we got to 500level,when the students conducted an election that brought in prodigy, my faculty deemed it fit that I should represent them again at that level, and I passed through the normal process, the faculty signed me,I collected the form from students affairs and I was duly screened. Before i became the C.Judge i did not get to know Sen. Waheed Abdulazeez to well as the Senate President under Sugarito tenure is the person I relate with if need be then when i was the C.Judge in my 300l.I only knew Sen. Waheed Azeez from afar.

PRESS - Why has it taken so long for you to send the judgement of the SJC in the case between Sen. Azeez Waheed Opeyemi against the Senate?
C.JUDGE- This goes down to the issue of fund,we can start chasing people everywhere if we really want an independent judiciary.Mr president was never a party to the case initially, but at a point in time, he became a nominal party in the case at hand, do in fact, let me say that, the SJC under my watch, we did a very rigorous job. Anybody who is familiar with the duty of the judiciary will know that it is not easy to compile a case overnight, I did the job overnight and it was about 22 pages of work and I know how it could be, so immediately after we gave the judgment, there was a national strike that took about 3 day,in which we were unable to process the typing, it ought to be typed before we send it to the appropriate quarters, but because of the confidentiality of that case, it cannot be typed I read it, because if it had been typed, that shows it has been exposed to some other parties, which ought not to be so, it could leak, so the only party or person that has the right to know my judgement are my Co judges and I can assure you that before the end of this day, the soft copy of that judgement would be sent to the EKSU-SU press today and by tomorrow (tuesday), the Registrar will distribute the hard copy to various quarters which include office of the Vice Chancellor, office of Dean of Students' Affairs and the office of the Chief Security officer and parties concerned too will have a copy, even though they ought to apply and pay a described fee for them to have a copy, and anybody that who cares being ESKUites can apply, it is under the law, I mean the FOI law now makes it as a right to apply to get any public document. Even the section 102,103 and 101 makes an evidence of that, it is a public document and anybody, any part that which to have a copy can apply and you will get a certified copy of it. So we are so sorry for the negligence, not a negligence so to say, we are so sorry for the lateness, it was partially due to circumstances beyond our human comprehension.

PRESS- Being the chief judge of EKSU SU, what are the challenges you have encountered ?
C-JUDGE - There are various, there are numerous challenges to be mentioned, and most of those challenges burns down on fund, you see, am always worried, I told my members at the level of the SJC when we were to present our budget and I will never oberrate any amount for the senators to not cut it down, that whatever you are presenting to them should reflect the reality of the market, we presented the budget, even when it comes to our allowances, some people came to me that we should not earn below what the senators are earning or what they propose, but I told them am not bothered about that, these are students' money which should be utilized for their welfare, but it's obvious and it's very very pathetic that at the end of the day, we only presented the budget, nothing has ever been done nd I think the press witnessed the SJC sittings during the case of Senator Waheed and the Student Senate Council. In an ideal settings, the SJC, the judges, we ought to be in our wig and gown, we proposed the wig and gown to the CEC and to the Senators, it has been approved, but for the CEC to release money, it becomes a problem, and you don't expect that in an ideal settings, we should be running after anybody to perform his duties, so up to his present moment, we don't have a single wig and gown, though we have a lots of them in my faculty, but I said and I insisted that I will not go to the faculty of law to go and borrow wig and gown for the students Union government, because the faculty of law will be a single component of the Students Union government, they ought to be the one to run to us for wig and gown, we should not be the one going to them, it is downgrading, so up to this moment, the SJC, we do not have wig and gown, in fact, if you get to my office, I hardly have a chair, and that's just the whole thing, so a lot of things like that has been our challenges. Fund is the major problem, we cannot perform or discharge our duties effectively, the only thing that has been approved for the SJC ever since the commencement of this regime is the total amount of 60000 naira, 40000 naira goes to the allowances of the judges while 20000 naira for the running grant which is a legal amount in which we all know to discharge our duty. All these things are the major challenges, and I want to say that another challenge is the way we communicate at the level of the SUG, I can say it is reckless in the sense that, whenever an event is coming up, there should be a form of official notification either from the pro, gen sec or who so ever may be concerned, but at times I will just be in a class and I will just receive a call that, Mr chief judge, we are so sorry and that we have a program this morning around 9pclock am and you ought to be there, you know that kind of thing, and I'll just imagine that where is things done this way, there should be a proper way of carrying out information, I mean this is a 21st century, we are expected to display a kind of high level of governance because tomorrow, we will be at the outside society to lead our people, is that the wat we are going to run it? No, so these are major challenges that we are facing and many other ones which are internal closed that we cannot reveal to the public.

PRESS - Can you highlight some things you will like Eksu su to work on, it might not necessarily be for this tenure but for the next tenure to work on
C-JUDGE -Thank you very much, if there is one thing I would want EKSU-SU to work on, because presently now, eksu su constitution which is gone on for eksu su, which is the foundation upon which this Union is built, is under construction, and how I which people like us, we are vowing out of the scheme, in a couple of days, but how I which that this foundation could reflect the reality of our Union such that the incoming generation can lean on it, because let me tell you, I was given a copy of the draft, but as at present am not still happy with some developments which I have agitated that they should worked upon by the constitutional committee. One of the major thing that I will love to see in nearest future is independent of all organs at the level of the SUG.. You see a situation where by you will tell one organ to go and draft it's own budget, you approve it and that one can take a whole lots of semester and after the following semester nothing will be done, it's inimical to the development of this students' Union government, we want the situation where by all organs will be independent on their own, so the CEC will not politicize issues with the SJC or the SSC , and aside that, we want a situation where by student leaders can be empowered, when we are talking about being empowered, we still need to be orientated, the student populate still needs to be orientated about the SJC, SSC, and about the CEC. The press as well which happens to be the fourth testing organ of government needs to be empowered because these are people who relates to the Students about the activities of the SUG, and you see when there is a lacuna, when there is a gap between the government and the governed, then you can realise that there is a problem, so we think that the press should be empowered to actually bridge this gap so that we can have a vibrant student unionism worthy of emulation, at the International level, at Nigerian level I mean, that we can also be proud of.

PRESS - Alright thank you very much for coming.
C-JUDGE - Thank you very much.

EKSU-SU Press

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