Magistrate orders lawyer to frog-jump for noise-making

Mr. Adewunmi Makanjuola of an Osun
State Chief Magistrate’s Court sitting in Osogbo,
yesterday, ordered a middle-aged lawyer,
Nnajite Okobie, to frog-jump for five minutes in
front of the court premises as a punishment for
disrupting court proceeding.
Makanjuola, who was presiding over a case of
alleged rape of a 11-year-old pupil, was
apparently disturbed from the noise by Okobie,
who was having a conversation with two other
people suspected to be his clients on the court
premises.
The magistrate, worried by the development,
sent the court orderly to warn the lawyer to
desist from making noise. But the man failed to
heed to the advice of the judge.
Provoked by the action of Okobie and his two
clients, Magistrate Makanjuola ordered the court
orderly to bring the trio before him and asked
them to make a choice on whether to be docked
for contempt of court or to frog-jump for five
minutes for their punishment.
It was at this point that Okobie and his clients
chose to frog-jump. Makanjuola then asked the
court orderly to sanction them by engaging them
in a five-minute frog-jump.
The magistrate stressed that the action of the
lawyer and his clients had put the court in
disrepute.
The punishment attracted many passers-by
including workers of the court, suspects to the
scene. Not a few people took pity on the lawyer
while others made mockery of him while the
punishment lasted.
After serving out the punishment, Makanjuola
warned them to desist from making noise on the
court premises, adding that the fact that Okobie
was a lawyer should not give him the impetus to
disrespect the court. He said: “Even if the court
is not on, you should have respect for it and for
the government, not to talk of when the court is
in progress. Mr. Okobie, sorry for treating you
like a novice.”