Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, on Monday lashed out at the state chapter of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, for failing to fight against the issues that crippled the judiciary in the state for almost one year.
Meanwhile, workers resumed early yesterday at the judiciary complex in Port Harcourt with most of them saying “happy new year,” apparently referring to the protracted strike that kept them at home since June last year.
The governor, on Monday in Government House, Port Harcourt, while swearing in Justice Daisy Okocha as the acting Chief Judge in the state, said he was surprised that senior lawyers who should have resisted what he termed the evil that rose against the judiciary, kept quiet.
Wike, who also swore in Justice Christy Nwankwo as acting President of the Customary Court of Appeal, recalled failed efforts by the previous government to stop his swearing in as governor of the state on May 29.
Thanking God for his successful emergence as governor of the state, Wike charged those newly sworn in to discharge their duties responsibly, stressing that nobody should be victimised.
He reminded the acting Chief Judge and the acting President of the Customary Court of Appeal that it was time to rebuild the state.
He said he will work out details to guarantee autonomy for the judiciary.
He said: “As a lawyer, I am highly disappointed by the action of the NBA. The actions that the NBA is taking now are belated. Suspending the former Attorney-General of the state is coming late in the day. They failed to speak up when everything was going wrong. We got to that level of decadence because NBA failed to act.
“If I believed in self preservation, I would have appointed my wife as acting Chief Judge. But I am a person who believes in due process. All through my leadership, we will follow due process in all appointments and actions.”
The acting Chief Judge, Justice Okocha, lauded the governor for the financial autonomy granted the judiciary, saying the judiciary will build synergy with all arms of government to move the state forward.
She said she was going to set up a task force to decongest the prisons that were already over stretched with inmates because of the crisis in the state judiciary that lasted close to one year.
She assured that there would be zero tolerance to indiscipline and corruption in the state judiciary.
Justice Okocha later addressed members of the NBA and staff of the judiciary at the judiciary complex, urging them to do their jobs diligently.
“The judiciary is our constituency. It is our pride. Let us all do our jobs very well. Judges should judge well. Magistrates and everyone should do their jobs well. In all things give thanks to God, so the Bible says,” she said.
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