'Never Trust A Ghost' By Adesina Ogunlana

THE LEARNED SQUIB
Last week, the Squib’s cover story was about workers recalled to service of the Lagos State Judiciary. Some weeks back, they (the said workers) had been placed on suspension without pay.

The threat to their regular employment and daily bread came in the form a letter of complaint (petition) against the workers, alleging basically that they were guilty of corruption.
As soon as the authorities of the Lagos State Judiciary received this letter, the workers were in trouble.

Nobody in the corridors of power it would appear, cared to pause even a second, to conduct preliminary, however cursory investigation into the merit of the petition, before pushing the bitter pill of suspension down the unwilling throats of the workers.

No worker likes any letter carrying any threat to their meal ticket, no matter how remote. So, when they received a combined honours’ missive from the authorities, to wit letter of query and letter of suspension, their hearts failed. I heard that many of them went beyond physical solutions. They embraced, the metaphysical, joined it with the spiritual, and landed on some mountains celestial, all in a bid not to lose their jobs.
Then one day, not too log ago, fortune smiled on them, a miracle happened - the Lagos Judiciary lifted their suspension and put them back in their positions.

The miracle, well one may say, may not be one after all. The simple truth is that the workers were called back, upon ample proof that the petition against the workers was penned by a ghost.

An obnoxious publication (not the Squib) had gone to town exposing that the purported Ajewole, the author of the petition was not a lawyer as claimed but a non-existent person.

Of course, we all know that the must a ghost can do, (in the coffers of his coffin) is to write anything, just about anything against his opponents. But when it comes to defending the grievous allegations so lavishly made, you won’t ever see the ghost.

The good thing about the whole episode is that the Lagos State Judiciary saw the error of her way and quickly and wisely retraced her steps.

It is a wonder really that a sharp Judiciary like the Lagos Judiciary could be misled so cheaply by a mischief maker.
But then, we learn everyday, I guess.