RSG, NJC And The Judiciary

Rivers State Governor, Chibuike Rotimi
Amaechi last Thursday, signed into law
the State High Court (Amendment) Bill 2014 which amended section 40 of the principal law of 2001. Part of the new law empowers the Chief Registrar to assign cases to judges and perform other administrative duties pending the appointment of either an Acting Chief Judge or a substantive one.
This intervention by the state House of Assembly deserves thorough appraisal. The amendment which was passed by 17 lawmakers after a public hearing last Wednesday, was, without doubt, meant to address the void caused by the impasse over the appointment of a Chief Judge for Rivers State, and its attendant stagnation of the courts in Port Harcourt.
Ordinarily, the appointment of a Chief Judge should not generate such bad blood if the laws of the land are respected.
Section 271(1) of the 1999 constitution as amended states: “The appointment of a person to the office of Chief Judge of a state shall be made by the Governor of the state on the recommendation of the National Judicial Council (NJC) subject to confirmation of the appointment by the House of Assembly.” This means, the appointment of a Chief Judge must enjoy inputs from the three arms of government, namely the Executive, the Judiciary itself and indeed the Legislature.
However, Section 271 (4) spells out the process for the appointment of an Acting Chief: “If the office of the Chief Judge of a state is vacant or if the person holding the office is for any reason unable to perform the functions of the office, then until a person has been appointed to and has assumed the functions of that office, or until the person holding the office had resumed those functions, the Governor of the state shall appoint the most senior Judge of the High Court to perform those functions.
In this respect, the state Governor appointed Justice Peter Agumagu, who the state insists is the most senior Judge even though he later  became President of the Customary Court of Appeal,  a position which the National Judicial Council (NJC) considered illegal preferring instead, Justice Daisy Okocha as most senior of the High Court. In the impasse that followed, both the Rivers State Government and the NJC stuck to their own understanding of the constitutional provision, until the former approached the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt to seek legal interpretation.
The Tide learnt that the Justice Akanbi-Federal High Court gave the  NJC power to recommend would-be Chief Judge nominees to the Governor but that such recommendations are not sacrosanct as a governor could either accept or reject same.
That being the case, the NJC should have challenged the Judge’s pronouncement on appeal as soon as the ruling was made available to it. That way, any likely derailment of the constitutional process, in the appointment of a Chief Judge, would have been addressed.
Instead, the impasse was allowed to escalate culminating in the suspension of Justice Agumagu and the assigning of administrative duties to Justice Daisy Okocha, a step which the state government insists, lacks constitutional backing, hence, an illegality.
Sadly, in the midst of the protracted log jam, the loser remains the state and indeed litigants seeking justice, not to mention staff of the state judiciary who are still on strike over fears for their lives, among many other concerns.
Perhaps, the State Assembly, considered it as most crucial imperative to save the judiciary from total stagnation by opening doors to litigants and others who may seek justice. This is because, without such cases being assigned to competent courts and judges, the stagnation would linger on.
It is from this perspective that The Tide greets the opening created by the Assembly for the Chief Registrar, to temporarily assign cases, pending the resolution of the substantive disagreement. We urge all stakeholders to appreciate the plight of the ordinary man and woman in search of justice, and sheathe their swords. After all, the judiciary remains the common man’s last hope, which, when denied could push many to try dangerous alternatives.
The Tide urges the NJC to challenge the Akanbi ruling on the issue, if it is not satisfied, as the first necessary step of demonstrating its respect for the rule of law which can be protected only, when, it is clearly shown that none is above the law. The easiest way is to respect court rulings on contentious issues, no matter how unpalatable they might be.
That indeed is the beauty of our legal system.