Ondo Gov. Rotimi Akeredolu has sacked over 90 magistrates in the State Judicial Service Commission. Others have been suspended.
The grounds for their sack, according to letters from Ondo Ag, Chief Judge Olarenwaju Oluwatoyin Akeredolu, were “perceived irregularities” and lack of due process before their appointment.
The suspended magistrates were asked to stay off court premises and to hand-over government properties in their possession pending a plenary consideration and review of their appointments.
According to SaharaReporters, most of those affected were employed between 2010 and 2017, during the administration of the then governor, Olusegun Mimiko, and were said to have been jobbed in by former Chief Judge Olasehinde Kumuyi
The appointments have increased the burden of finance the cash-strapped state has to carry, making the mass sack necessary.
The purge began after the governor left for the UN General Assembly on the entourage of President Muhammadu Buhari.