A debate has begun in Rivers State over how the next governor would assume office if elected, and who would swear him in, in the absence of a recognised chief judge.
This is as the constitutional crisis in the state is about to enter into an intractable stage where nobody seems to know who would be right to swear in the next governor.
Since the retirement of Iche Ndu as the state chief judge in 2013, the succession crisis has created tension in the state, leading to closure of the courts in the state for over one year. Now, as many parties in the dispute head to the federal courts, and with no one sitting as chief judge, constitutional lawyers have intensified debates on what would be the consequences after a new governor would have been elected. This has led to a prediction of greater crisis as the opposing views do not have any meeting point.
The former chief judge left the scene when the implosion in the then ruling party in the state, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) was just starting. Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, who was then alert over alleged plots to remove him, appointed the president of the Customary Court of Appeal, Peter Agumagu, as acting chief judge.
When the first allowable three months expired, the governor re-appointed Agumadu but incurred the wrath of the Nigerian Judicial Council (NJC), which said the governor had no right to appoint anybody for a second acting term without approval by the body.
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The matter dragged all through 2014 with Amaechi appointing and swearing in Agumagu on full capacity, saying he was the most senior judge in the state and that such was the spirit of the 1999 Constitution.
The NJC countered by suspending Agumagu in April 2014 for allowing himself to be sworn in as chief judge contrary to a warning letter to all judges in the state. Agumagu obeyed all the same and a vacuum was created in the headship of the Rivers State Judiciary.
Agumagu went to the Federal High Court, but the state government reacted by passing a law that permitted the chief registrar to handle remittance of cases in the absence of a substantive chief judge. This seemed to confirm the fact that there was no substantive chief judge in Rivers State.
On the other hand, the NJC appointed Daisy Okocha as ‘Administrative Chief Judge’, an action seen as admittance by the NJC that it had no power to appoint a chief judge and that none existed in Rivers State at this point in time.
The ‘Administrative Chief Judge’ was blocked from gaining access to function in the state’s judiciary for months until she forced her way into the premises. Meanwhile, bombs and fire kept exploding in some branches of the state’s high courts especially the Ahoada division and this formed the excuse for the judicial workers to proceed on industrial action, citing insecurity.
In February, the bombs exploded in the state headquarters on Azikiwe Road to justify the fears of the judicial workers union. Since then, the courts in the state have remained under lock and key, just like the state’s House of Assembly Complex after siege by opposing camps in the foiled run-up to impeachment attempt.
This is the situation leading to the gubernatorial elections which raised fears that the next governor, if elected on April 11, 2015, may not assume office unless the appropriate thing was done according to the Constitution. Many now want to know who would swear in the governor.
A well-known lawyer in the state capital, Festus Aguche, has argued that Agumagu had the right to perform the task in his capacity as the president of the Customary Court of Appeal. He further argued that Agumagu was suspended as Chief Judge and could therefore use his previous position to so act.
Countering this position, another prominent voice on the bar in the state, Eugene Odey, rather argued that neither Agumagu nor Daisy had the power to perform the role. He however, suggested what he called, adopting the doctrine of necessity to resolve the issue but Oguche insisted that such a clause could only come in if there was totally no option. To him, allowing Agumagu to perform it would be the right thing. Quoting several sections of the law, both lawyers re-enacted the debates that raged in the state over who was right, between Governor Amaechi and the NJC. Both lawyers ended up admitting that there was constitutional crisis and that there was need for both the Rivers State Government and the NJC to step down from their high horses and resolve the matter through political methods.
It appears the two rival parties in the state have something up their sleeves as far as the matter is concerned. None agrees to respond to requests for opinions but the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state simply said: “When we get to the bridge, we will worry about how to cross it”.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Port Harcourt branch, has instituted a fundamental human right action at the federal high court in Port Harcourt demanding N500million compensation for damages suffered by the group due to the continued closure of the state high court complex.
The suit filed at the federal high court is against the Attorney General of the state, Chief Registrar of the Rivers State Judiciary, the Rivers State Judicial Service Commission and the Rivers State Commissioner of Police.
The NBA is seeking a declaration against the act of the respondents to “completely barricade the high court complex, denying NBA access to use of their offices, official vehicles and other properties”.
Ignatius Chukwu
