Fashola Hands Over Office Of Public Defender With Commitment To Provide Justice To All Citizens
• 34,100 matters handled by OPD between 2000 and 2012

Feb 28, 2012 - Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN), Tuesday handed over the new Office of Public Defender on Iyun Road, Surulere, with a commitment that all citizens of the State, irrespective of means, tribe or tongue, will obtain justice in the State.

Established in 2000 by the administration of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to render free legal service to all who are disadvantaged in obtaining justice, especially indigent persons and the physically challenged, Office of Public Defender (OPD) has handled a total of 34,100 matters made up of 24,791 petitions, 6,629 court matters and 2,680 police station matters, to date.

Governor Fashola told a capacity audience of legal luminaries, Civil Society groups and other members of the public including past beneficiaries of the intervention of the Office as well as top government functionaries, "We intend to pursue this cause of Justice as our critical agenda for Law and Order and citizens must be rest assured that in whatever part of the country they come from, whatever language they speak, whatever level of their means, they will get Justice even if the heavens will fall".

"This commitment is historic because, perhaps, never in the history of this country has there been such a public commitment to and dedication of men and resources to the pursuit of Justice like Lagos State has done since 1999. The Government has found the right men, the Government has generated substantial resources and we have put men and resources to work and the story is one that I am very proud to tell", the Governor said.

Governor Fashola expressed joy that almost everything that emanated from the State's Justice Reform agenda began in 1999 has become standard and benchmark for the whole of the country listing such items to include reformations that took place in the State's High Courts in terms of Civil Procedure Rules, infrastructure and welfare packages.

Thanking those he described as Champions of the Justice Reforms of the State, his immediate predecessor, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Former Attorney General, Professor Yemi Osinbajo and Justice Bisi Akinlade for their roles in the success of the reforms, Governor Fashola declared, "We have seen reform on paper, we have seen reform in people, we have also seen reform in physical infrastructure".

The Governor, who said the reforms have continued since then and that a lot of progress was made in the access to justice at the High Court level, recalled that immediately Mr. Supo Shasore became Senior Advocate of Nigeria he insisted on taking the reforms to the Magistracy level.

"He told me that the biggest, quickest and earliest entry point to the majority of our citizens to the Justice System is at the Magistracy level and that we needed to do something about it", the Governor said adding that it led to the re-writing of the Magistrate Court Law that was almost 100 years old".

According to him, "It also led to the ambitious and very audacious programme of improving the infrastructure, the Courtrooms and the working environment of the Magistrates leading to the commitment to building ten different new Magistrate Courts across Lagos and the cumulative number of Magistrate Courtrooms that have been delivered in excess of 100 courtrooms across the State".

Governor Fashola also disclosed that it was during the tenure of Mr. Shasore as Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice that the Public Advice Centre, a centre which provides advice to citizens on their rights, took firm root in the minds of the people. "It is one thing to actually have a Public Defender and another thing to know your rights", he said.

"These are reforms that will continue and I am glad to acknowledge here that many other states have followed suit in the steps of our great State. Needless to reiterate that over 34, 000 people have benefited from this service that have been provided" the Governor said citing the testimony of one of the beneficiaries, one Chief Diyaolu who testified earlier of how his long standing family property issue was resolved by the OPD.

"I feel happy that the case was finally resolved in this building", he said.

The Governor also recalled some celebrated cases won by the OPD including the Miss Uzoma Okere case in which the OPD won for her N100 million as damages for being brutalized by a Naval officer as well as other such cases. "I believe as time goes on, the Office of Public Defender will tell its own stories", he said.

Noting that the OPD had suffered accommodation problem in the past, Governor Fashola thanked Mr. Shasore, his immediate successor, Mr. Ade Ipaiye and Mrs. Omotola Rotimi and others who played important roles in the construction of the new infrastructure to house the OPD.

"It is a shelter that I am proud of. It is a shelter that I am sure will provide Justice to all those who come within its portals", the Governor said.

In his remarks at the occasion, former Governor of the State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, expressed joy that the Office of Public Defender is fulfilling the purpose for which it was established.

Asiwaju Tinubu, who was represented at the occasion by Professor Yemi Osinbajo, said the OPD was established because although the courts were there, only a few had the means to access it adding, "If only a few have access to justice, how can we say we are practicing democracy".

The former Governor, who thanked Professor Osinbajo, his Attorney General when he was Governor, and others who played parts in the establishment of the OPD, noted that from 2009 till date, the OPD had handled 4, 012 cases and through its intervention 654 inmates have been released from various prisons.

Three beneficiaries gave testimonies of the successful intervention of the OPD in their cases. Mr. Olasupo Ojo, a Civil Society representative thanked the OPD which he said has made the work of the Civil Society easy in defence of the poor and helpless pointing out that since the collaboration between the two bodies, the job of getting justice for the poor has become easy.

Another beneficiary was Chief Diyaolu who said through the intervention of the OPD, a long standing family dispute over property was amicably resolved while Mr. Tayo Shittu gave testimony of how the OPD obtained justice for him in a case of brutalization by some security agents.

Earlier in his address, the Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General, Mr. Ade Ipaiye, described the Office of Public Defender as "the manifestation of public spirited thinking adding, "It appeals directly to the ideals of a just and egalitarian society in which the rights of all men and women, whether young or old, rich or poor, are protected with equal force by the laws and authorities of the land".

Also present at the ceremony were the Deputy Governor, Mrs. Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, immediate past Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Olasupo Shasore, Chief Judge of Lagos State, Justice Inumidun Akande, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, Director of OPD, Mrs. Omotola Rotimi, Traditional Rulers and top government functionaries