LG Chairmen Barricade Federal High Court In PH

The local government
council chairmen in Rivers State have paralysed sittings at Federal High Court in Port Harcourt for over three days following what they described as “back door” arrangement by the state governor, to remove them from office.
The council chairmen and their supporters drawn from the 22 local government areas of the state barricaded and occupied the Federal High Court along Azikiwe Road in old Port Harcourt township for fear of being sacked through an alleged concocted judgment.
The council chairmen under the aegis of the All Progressives Congress (APC)  in the state also alleged that they had petitioned  against a Judge at the Federal High Court, Justice Lambo Akanbi for alleged corruption.
According to the leader of the group, Hon. Chimbiko Akarolo, who is also the Chairman of Port Harcourt City Local Government Area,  Justice Akanbi erred when he accepted to resume a matter pending before a Court of Appeal in Port Harcourt.
Chimbiko who led his colleagues to the premises of the Court of Appeal to present their petition said it was wrong in law for a judge of a lower court to continue presiding in a matter before a senior court that was even adjourned sine-dine after the matter was taken to Appeal Court.
They accused the trial Judge of allegedly colluding  with the State government in its bid to forcefully remove them from office and added that they would continue to occupy the premises of the court until the judge and the National Judicial Council met their demand.
The Tide Judiciary/Crime correspondent who monitored the situation, reports that only Court 3 sat on Monday.
Our correspondent further reports that litigants and lawyers were asked by the Courts 1,2 and 4 registrars to pick dates for their cases.
One of the litigants who spoke to The Tide, Mr Chinwedu Nwaubi urged the parties to find a lasting solution to the matter in order to allow normal activities to resume at the court.
It would be recalled that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had in May this year approached a Federal High Court in Port Harcourt presided over by Justice Lambo Akanbi to stop INEC from releasing the voters register to RSIEC for the conduct of the 2015 local government elections.
However, trouble started when the state government and their former lawyer, Hon. Emma Aguma approached the court to inform it that their lawyer in the matter had been briefed following his recent appointment as the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice.
This arrangement did not go down well with the council chairmen who alleged that such move was intended to sack them and vowed to resist such an attempt.