Group accuses Shaibu of resorting to self-help on judgment enforcement

A group of legal practitioners under the aegis of Lawyers With Integrity, have faulted the resort to self-help by the reinstated deputy governor of Edo State, Philip Shaibu, in his attempt to enforce court judgement, which faulted his removal by the state House of Assembly.

On Thursday, gunmen believed to be political thugs shot sporadically when Shaibu exited the Benin Airport with the All Progressives Congress governorship candidate, Monday Okpebholo, which resulted in the death of a police Inspector, Akor Onuh.

Coordinator of the group, Aghatise Bozimoh, who spoke to journalists on Sunday, noted that the enforcement of court judgments/orders has a process, which according to him does not include “forceful execution.”

Bozimoh said having listened to the deputy governor admitting on live television that the Edo Commissioner of Police approached him to stay calm given the appeal and the stay of execution application filed, he should not have acted the way he did.

He stated that a judgment creditor, in the quest to enforce a judgment/order, does so in the presence and support of the appropriate court officials and designated police officers to ensure compliance and to maintain peace and order.

He said, “it is only where there is a resistance, as mild as it could be, there shouldn’t have been no reaction, but a withdrawal and report back to court for which committal proceedings will commence.

“I don’t belong to any political party, I am only an electorate to be persuasively courted for votes. I listened to the interview on television on Friday and, in my own opinion, the reinstated deputy governor shot himself in the foot when he admitted that at the airport, the CP approached him and told him to suspend his plans to enforce the judgment given the filing of an application for stay of execution and injunction.

He added, “I am less interested in the legalese of declaratory/executory nature of judgments/orders of courts. But enforcement of court judgments/order has a process that doesn’t include forceful execution.”