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RIVERS State Governor, Chibuike Amaechi, has urged lawyers in the state to channel their grievances over the closure of courts in the state to the appropriate quarters. Amaechi gave the advice in a meeting he held with members of the state branch of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) in Port Harcourt, the state capital, yesterday, on the closure of state courts. It will be recalled that there has been lingering squabble between the state government and the National Judicial Council (NJC) on who becomes the substantive Chief Judge (CJ) of the state.
The office of the state CJ was vacated on August 19, 2013, following the retirement of the last CJ, Dr. Iche Ndu. The state governor appointed Justice Peter Agumagu acting CJ for three months. But NJC later appointed Justice Daisy Okocha, a female and Agumagu’s opponent in, pending the resolution of the substantive matter. However, Governor Amaechi was not comfortable with the development, and went on to reject Okocha’s appointment. He directed Judiciary workers not to take directives from her or be sanctioned. For fear of default, the workers, under the eagis of Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN), declared an indefinite strike on June 10, leading to the closure of courts in the state .
Lawyers in the state have been agitating for the re-opening of the courts to enable them get back to their practice, lamenting the hardship the closure has caused them. Efforts to meet with the state governor on the issue had not been fruitful until yesterday.
The meeting was meant to appeal to the governor to allow for the re-opening for the court so they could go back to work while the CJ issue is being settled. But the governor told the lawyers that the NJC was responsible for the closure of courts in the state, and urged the lawyers to channel their grievances and appeals to them. He maintained that he had nothing against Justice Okocha, nor does he have any interest for Agumagu, maintaining that his fight was against illegality in the judiciary.
He blamed lawyers for not being objective in their judgment on the matter and said the solution lied between them and NJC. “It is not about Justice Daisy Okocha; it is not about Justice P.N.C Agumagu. The point I want to make is keep to the law of 10 years of practice”. He explained that one of the steps he took towards resolving the crisis was requesting the state House of Assembly to amend the state High Court Law, to enable the lawyers continue with the practice.
Source: The Nation
