RVHA Defends Stance On CJ’s Appointment

The Rivers State House of Assembly has said that  the 1999 Constitution empowers the legislative and executive arms of government to checkmate who becomes the Rivers State chief judge as the head of the Judiciary.
The  chairman, House Committee on Judiciary, Mr. Golden Chioma, who stated this while speaking with journalists on a television programme yesterday also said it  was not mandatory that the government must accept whoever  is recommended by the National Judicial Council  (NJC) as the state Chief Judge.According to Chioma, the governor can accept or reject such recommendation if he feels otherwise,as no law makes it binding on him to accept the NJC’s recommendation.
He stated that the government did not appreciate the stand of the NJC in terms of its recommendation, and challenged it in court.
According to him, the court ruled that Justice Peter Agumagu was the rightful person for the state chief judge’s  position.
The lawmaker described the suspension of Justice Agumagu by  the NJC as unnecessary, stressing that it was an affront on the decision of the court.

L-R: President, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, Methodist Archbishop of Abuja, Most Rev. Oche Job and Preacher, Banawa Central Mosque, Kaduna, Malam Ibrahim Sayyadi, at the Christian/muslim Interactive Meeting On Peace, Unity and Justice in Abuja, yesterday