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Ekiti Government approves Palace Court. The Ekiti State Government on Wednesday approved the operation of traditional palace courts in the bid to tackle crime in the state. The state’s Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Olawale Fapohunda, made this known at an interactive session with traditional rulers at the Governor’s Office in Ado-Ekiti. Mr Fapohunda urged the traditional rulers to forward judgments emanating from the palace courts to the state government for compilation into a compendium. He posited that traditional rulers play a very important role in the administration of justice, adding that palace courts were recognised by the government to dispense justice to the people in their communities. The commissioner stressed that the compendium would serve as law reports to be known as Ekiti Palace Law Reports. This, according to him, would enable people to ascertain the quality of judgments emanating from the palace courts in Ekiti. The state government also solicited the cooperation of traditional rulers in the fight against sexual offenders and land grabbers. Mr Fapohunda said the state was experiencing a high incidence of rape and child defilement which had become a challenge to the core values of Ekiti people. “Violence against women and children is a major problem that we are experiencing now in Ekiti state. “We are vigorously working on the issue of wife battering because our legislation in that regard is not adequate. “But the issue that saddens us most is the issue of rape and child defilement. “It is becoming an embarrassment to the state, it challenges our values, and the worse part of it is that it seems as if we are all used to it. “It is the fact that we have all come to a stage in Ekiti State where we are not shocked that an old man is having canal knowledge of a two-year-old child. “We know that legislation alone cannot do this; we are vigorously prosecuting sex offenders in many cases. “I, as Attorney General, will personally lead the prosecution against any sex offender because the Fayemi government has zero tolerance for sexual violence in the state,’’ he said. Mr Fapounda, while also soliciting the support of traditional rulers in curbing the menace of land grabbing, said the crime was sufficient to turn investors away from the state. Responding on behalf of the traditional rulers, the Chairman of the Ekiti Council of Traditional Rulers, Oluwole Ademolaju, and the Ewi of Ado-Ekiti, Adeyemo Adejugbe, commended the government for formally recognising the courts.