The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State to “immediately withdraw his illegal appointment of Justice Obisike Orji as the acting Chief Judge of the state”.
The organisation also asked “the governor to reinstate Justice Theresa Uzokwe, who was unlawfully removed by the state House of Assembly, to her position as Chief Judge.”
It would be recalled that the state House of Assembly had, last Friday, passed a resolution suspending Uzokwe as the state’s chief judge.
The Speaker, Chikwendu Kalu, while reading the resolution, set up an eight-man ad-hoc committee to investigate allegations of misconduct against the judge, and mandated the governor to appoint an acting chief judge pending the completion of the investigation by the committee.
But SERAP, in a statement, yesterday, by its Deputy Director, Timothy Adewale said, “Rather than using their executive and legislative powers to promote good governance and abolish laws granting double emoluments and large severance benefits to former governors, the Abia State government is denigrating the judiciary and displaying contempt for the rule of law.”
According to SERAP, “the purported suspension of Justice Uzokwe violates Sections 292(1)(a)(ii) and 21(d) Part 11 of the Third Schedule to the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria (as amended), and amounts to a blatant attack on the integrity and independence of the judiciary. No judge anywhere in Nigeria can be removed without the involvement of the National Judicial Council (NJC), no matter the level of allegations of misconduct against that judge.”
The organisation said, “Governor Ikpeazu must rescind his illegal appointment of a new chief judge, and the Abia State House of Assembly must withdraw the apparently politically motivated suspension of Justice Uzokwe without further delay. Doing so will be entirely consistent with the decision of the Supreme Court of Nigeria in the case of Raliat Elelu-Habeed & Anor v Attorney General of the Federation and Attorney General of Kwara State (2012).”
The organization said, “If allowed to stand, the suspension of Justice Uzokwe would set a bad example to other state governments, and dangerously move them toward executive and legislative dominance and control over the judiciary. Should Ikpeazu and the House fail to restore Justice Uzokwe back to her position, SERAP will undertake appropriate legal action including before the NJC and the UN special procedure mechanisms, to seek justice and effective remedies in this matter.”
The statement read in part: “The suspension also infringes the constitutional principle of the separation of governmental powers. Constitutional guarantees are meant to protect the judiciary from the political cavilling that removal power often engenders. The benefits of the integrity of the judiciary should never be supplanted by the temerity and excessiveness which political powers often breed.”