The Osun State Judicial Service Commission (JSC) has been formally petitioned to investigate Senior Magistrate A. A. Adeyeba following allegations of grave judicial misconduct and the flagrant disobedience of a superior court order.
The controversy erupted during proceedings on Tuesday, February 10, 2026, at Magistrate’s Court 5, Osogbo.
The Magistrate is accused of ignoring an existing High Court order that had directed a stay of proceedings and the transfer of a criminal case involving the alleged unlawful release of local government funds to the High Court for quashing.
The legal battle stems from criminal charges instituted by the Osun State Government against United Bank for Africa (UBA) and three of its officials.
The State alleges the unlawful release of funds to Local Governments during the previous All Progressives Congress (APC)-led administration. After the Magistrate initially issued bench warrants for bank officials, UBA secured an intervention from the High Court, which ordered that all proceedings at the lower court be stayed pending a review.
During Tuesday’s session, defense counsel H. B. Williams informed the court that the High Court’s stay-of-execution order had been duly served.
However, the State Counsel, Mr. Biodun Badiora, urged the court to proceed.
In a move that has shocked the state’s legal community, Magistrate Adeyeba bypassed the High Court’s directive to issue two far-reaching orders restraining the Bank from releasing any further funds to Osun State Local Governments.
The ruling sparked immediate condemnation from legal experts who described the act as judicial lawlessness.
Critics argue that once a Magistrate is aware of a superior court’s order to transfer a file, any further orders issued by that Magistrate amount to a legal nullity and an erosion of the rule of law.
The tension in the courtroom reportedly drew an intervention from a Senior Advocate, Dr. Layonu, who was present as an observer.
Dr. Layonu took the rare step of admonishing the court, reminding the Magistrate that once jurisdiction is lost by reason of a superior court’s directive, any further orders amount to a nullity.
Meanwhile, the Osun state chapter of the APC in a statement e-signed by Mogaji Kola Olabisi, the Osun State APC Director of Media and Information, the party called for the JSC to protect the sanctity of the judiciary.
The opposition party expressed concern that the Magistrate’s actions were targeted at paralyzing local government administration and banking operations in defiance of constitutional safeguards.
