Justice Iche Ndu, the immediate past Chief Judge (CJ) of Rivers State Monday retired from service after a meritorious 12-year tenure as the Chief Judge of the State.
Speaking at the valedictory ceremony packaged to bid the legal luminary farewell, Iche Ndu charged the Bar and Bench not to allow the Executive Arm influence them in the course of administering justice to the people.
According to the retiring Judge the sole responsibility of the Judiciary is to ensure justice, warning that the era of impunity in democracy was over.
He thanked governor Chibuike Amaechi for his financial support to the judiciary, which he said has repositioned the third arm of government in the state.
In his remarks at the event, the President of Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) Okey Wali Esq (SAN) frowned at the high level of corruption involving judges, adding that NBA has set up a department to tackle the problem. He corroborated the position of the outgoing Rivers State Chief Judge that there was no more room for impunity at the Bar and Bench in the country.
Meanwhile, the Rivers State governor, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Amaechi has sworn in a new Acting Chief Judge, in the person of Justice Peter Agumagu, the President of the Customary Court of Appeal in the state.
Amaechi charged him to live up to expectation in the three months he is expecting to be in office, pending the National Assembly’s approval of a substantive CJ in line with the recommendation of the National Judicial Commission (NJC)
“I congratulate you as the new Acting Chief Judge of Rivers State, on your appointment and urged you to discharge your responsibilities according to the law,” Amaechi said.
Meanwhile reactions have continued to trail the appointment of the new chief judge.
Many public analysts have described the appointment as a violation of the Section 271 (41) of the 1999 constitution of Nigeria. According to them, the constitution was explicit on the matter that only the most senior judge of the State High Court was qualified to be appointed Chief Judge of a state, which they argue disqualifies Justice Agumagu from that post.
Justice Agumagu prior to the appointment was the President, Rivers State Customary Court of Appeal and worse still, the NJC had recommended Justice Daisy Okocha of the State High Court for that job.###
