The death of Justice Adegboye Gbolagunte of Oyo State High Court, stalled several proceedings in most of the courts in the state on Tuesday.
Justice Gbolagunte died on Monday 24 June 2024 following a protracted illness. He was aged 64.
As a result of the passing away of the respectable judge, scores of litigants who had thronged the Oyo State High Court early in the morning went back home disappointed.
Also, all accused persons who were brought to the court for prosecution of their cases by officials of the Nigeria Prison Service were driven back to Agodi Correctional Centre.
Some litigants especially those who came from a long distance were however, unhappy that they were not informed earlier by their lawyers.
At court 13, both litigants and lawyers were seated in the court room as from 8am waiting for the arrival of the judge that would preside over their cases.
Some minutes before 10am, the clerk of the court came to inform lawyers that some of them had to pick October 14, 2024 for their cases.
One of the litigants who came with a team said their leader spent over N14,000 for their transportation fare.
“If we had been notified earlier, we would have saved a lot of money.”
While consoling the family he left behind, Barrister Remi Alli described the deceased judge as a very humble, polite and hard-working man.
He said, “Everyone respected him. He would treat everyone including lawyers and litigants with respect. It’s a pity we lost such an experienced and humble judge”.
