NJC Removes Imo Acting Chief Judge From Office

By Adesina Soyooye

Queries the Acting Chief Judge for presenting himself before the Governor to be sworn in. Also queried the President, Customary Court of Appeal, Imo State, for complicity. Threatens disciplinary action against both Judges

The National Judicial Council, NJC, has voided the appointment of the Honourable Justice Theophilus Nzeukwu as the Acting Chief Judge of Imo State.

At its 108th meeting which held on April 29, the Council asked the Governor, Senator Hope Uzodinma to, immediately, appoint the most senior Judge in the State as Nzeukwu’s replacement.

In asking the Governor to reverse the appointment, the NJC said it was in line with the provisions of the 1999 Constitution.

Removing him from office is not the only set back for Nzeukwu. He needs a good explanation to avoid disciplinary action against him as the NJC has given him seven days to explain why he should not be punished for  presenting himself to be sworn-in by the Governor as the Acting Chief Judge when he knew it ran contrary to the Constitution.

In same vein, the President of the Customary Court of Appeal, Imo State, is also in trouble. The Honourable Justice V.U. Okorie, who presided over the State Judicial Service Commission where Nzeukwu was recommended for appointment, has also been asked, to explain, within seven days why disciplinary action should not be taken against him for the role he played in Nzeukwu’s appointment.

Kemi Ogedengbe, NJC’s Deputy Director of Information in a statement said of the Imo situation that: “The NJC directed the Imo State Governor, Senator Hope Uzodinma to appoint the most senior Judicial Officer in the State High Court’s hierarchy as the Acting Chief Judge of the State in conformity with Section 271 (4) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended)”

The NJC relying on constitutional provision stated: “If the office of the Chief Judge of a State is vacant, or if the person holding the office is, for any reason, unable to perform the functions of the office, then, until a person has been appointed to, and has assumed the functions of that office, or until the person holding the office has resumed those functions, the Governor shall appoint the most senior Judge of the High Court to perform those functions.”

Governor Uzodinma had appointed Nzeukwu as the Acting Chief Judge months after the NJC sacked the State’s Chief Judge, the Honourable Justice Theresa Chikeka, for falsifying her age.

But Nzeukwu’s appointment was met with opposition by the Owerri branch of the Nigerian Bar Association which said the appointment was inappropriate because Nzeukwu was number four in the hierarchy of Judges in Imo. The branch sent off a petition to the Chief Justice of Nigeria, the Honourable Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun and other relevant bodies.

They were backed by the NJC which said they were not in the know of Nzeukwu’s appointment and described it as in appropriate and a breach of the appointments of Judicial Officers. The NJC said the Governor had written to it requesting an approval to appoint Nzeukwu, the fourth most senior Judge as Acting Chief Judge but did not wait for a reply before he carried out the action which it insisted contravened the constitutional provision.

But the Imo State Government offered a stiff defence to the effect that given the embarrassing case of Chikeka, the State Judicial Commission embarked on a thorough screening of the Judges in the State and found Nzeukwu the most senior who had unimpeachable credentials.

Apparently, the NJC was not impressed by the explanation. It wielded the hammer.