Depoliticising the Appointment of the Chief Judge of A State in Nigeria: Lessons From the Crisis Over the Appointment of the Chief Judge of Rivers State of Nigeria

Abstract

Rivers State of Nigeria was effectively without an incumbent Chief Judge from 20^th August, 2013 (when the immediate past Chief Judge of the State, Hon. Justice Iche N. Ndu, retired from service) up until the 31^st day of May, 2015. The current Acting Chief Judge of Rivers State, Hon. Daisy W. Okocha, Ag. C.J., was sworn into office on 1^st day of June, 2015 by the incumbent Governor of Rivers State, Chief Nyesom E. Wike.  At the centre of the crisis was the insistence by the former Governor of Rivers State, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Amaechi that he had the prerogative to reject the recommendation of the National Judicial Council (hereinafter referred to simply as “the NJC”) that Hon. Justice Daisy W. Okocha of the High Court of Rivers State should be appointed to the office of Chief Judge of Rivers State. According to the former Governor of Rivers State, the favourable recommendation of Hon. Justice Daisy Okocha by the NJC for appointment to the office of Chief Judge of Rivers State was merely directory since the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) vests the actual power of appointment of the State Chief Judge in the Governor.

Following the judgment delivered by Hon. Justice Lambo Akanbi, J., of the Federal High Court Port Harcourt in Governor of Rivers State & ors v. National Judicial Council & anor.,[1] which set aside the recommendation of the NJC to the former Governor of Rivers State to appoint Hon. Justice Daisy Okocha to the office of Chief Judge of Rivers State, the former Governor of Rivers State in purported exercise of his power under s.271(1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999(as amended),[2] appointed and swore in Hon. Justice P. N. C. Agumagu, former President, Rivers State Customary Court of Appeal, to the office of Chief Judge of Rivers State on 18^th March, 2014 without the recommendation of the NJC. In appointing and swearing in Hon. Justice P. N. C. Agumagu, as Chief Judge of Rivers State, the Governor purportedly acted on the advice of the Rivers State Judicial Service Commission to the NJC which preferred Hon. Justice P. N. C. Agumagu, to Hon. Justice Daisy Okocha for appointment to the office of Chief Judge of Rivers State.

Quite expectedly, the NJC not only refused to recognize the appointment of Hon. Justice P.N.C. Agumagu as Chief Judge of Rivers State but also suspended him from performing the functions of his office as a judicial officer for accepting his purported appointment as Chief Judge of Rivers State without the prior recommendation of the NJC. As Ahuraka Isah, Media Aide to the former Chief Justice of Nigeria stated it, the suspension of Hon. Justice P. N. C. Agumagu was intended to preserve the authority of the National Judicial Council and “arrest or prevent judicial anarchy.”[3]

On 3^rd day of June, 2014 the NJC appointed Hon. Justice Daisy Okocha, J., as the “Administrative Judge” of the High Court of Rivers State with a mandate to assign cases to all the Judges of the High Court of Rivers State and to perform other related administrative functions necessary to prevent the complete collapse of the operation of the judiciary in the State.[4] However, the Rivers State Government quickly reacted to the said appointment by issuing a circular directing all staff of the Rivers State Judiciary to refrain from taking any instructions from or dealing with Hon. Justice Daisy Okocha, J., in her capacity as the Administrative Judge of the High Court of Rivers State. The directive was coupled with a clear threat that any staff found guilty of its violation would be dismissed from the service of the Rivers State Judiciary. [5]

In the confusions that followed these conflicting actions by the NJC and the Government of Rivers State, members of the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) Rivers State Branch declared an indefinite strike action on 9^th June, 2014 thus completely grinding the administration of justice throughout Rivers State and depriving litigants of access to the court of justice.

The new Chief Justice of Nigeria, Hon. Justice Mahmud Mohammed, in his first official reaction to the crisis in Rivers State Judiciary had blamed the former Governor of Rivers State, Chibuike Amaechi, for circumventing seniority in the appointment of a new Chief Judge for the State.[6] The Amaechi administration in Rivers State on its part, had always blamed the NJC for undue interference in what was supposedly the internal affair of the State.[7] The needless crisis and the complete disruption of the administration of justice in Rivers State which was unprecedented in history continued until the Hon. Justice Daisy Okocha was appointed and sworn in as the Acting Chief Judge of Rivers State on 1^st day of June, 2015 by Governor Wike.

Against the foregoing factual background, this paper seeks to examine the relevant provisions of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) on the power of appointment of the Chief Judge of a State with a view to determining the constitutionality or otherwise of the actions taken so far by the NJC and the former Governor of Rivers State. It is argued that the politicization of the appointment of the Chief Judge of Rivers State by the former Governor of Rivers State, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi was directly responsible for the crisis. Arguably, the former Governor was able to cripple the entire Rivers State Judiciary for almost two years because of a patent defect in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 which does not specifically prescribe that the most senior Judge of the High Court of the State shall be appointed as the substantive Chief Judge of the State. This gap in the 1999 Constitution was simply exploited by the administration of Governor Amaechi for obvious political reasons to the irreversible detriment of the people of Rivers State who look up to the courts for justice. The paper argues that in order to depoliticize the appointment of the Chief Judge of the State of the federation, a constitutional amendment should be introduced to prescribe that the most senior Judge of the High Court of the State should be appointed to the office of Chief Judge of the State. The proposal will de-emphasize political considerations and ensure predictability in the process of appointment of a Chief Judge of the State of the Federation of Nigeria.

This paper is divided into five sections. The introductory section provides a sketch of the factual background to the crisis in the Rivers State Judiciary and its adverse impacts on the administration of justice in the State.  The second section addresses the issue of qualification for appointment to the office of Chief Judge of a State of the Federation of Nigeria under the 1999 Constitution (as amended). In more specific terms, this section will attempt to answer the question whether Hon. Justice P.N.C. Agumagu, P., who at all material times was the President of the Rivers State Customary Court of Appeal, was qualified to be appointed by the former Governor of Rivers State to the office of Chief Judge of Rivers State. The procedure laid down in the 1999 Constitution (as amended) for the appointment of the Chief Judge of a State of the federation is examined in section three whilst section four proffers solutions to stem such crisis in future. The concluding remarks are contained in section five.

[1] (Unreported), Suit No. FHC/PH/CS/421/2013 delivered on 18^th day of March, 2013.

[2] Cap C23, LFN 2004 (hereinafter ‘the 1999 Constitution’).

[3] Lanre Adewole and Dapo Falade, “Agumagu: Politics, law and survival as Rivers CJ appointment crisis drags on” Tribune (Ibadan, 6^th April, 2014)<http://www. tribune.com.ng/special-report/item/2763-agumagu-politics-law-and-survival-as-rivers-cj-appointment-crisis-drags-on/>accessed 03/12/2014.

[4] Tobi Soniyi, “Why Justice Okocha Was Appointed Acting Rivers CJ” ThisDay Live (04 June, 2014)> http://www.Thisday Live .com/articles/why-justice-okocha-was-appointed-acting-rivers-cj/180167/> accessed 03/12/2014

[5] Innocent Anaba & Jimitola Onoyume, “Reactions trail NJC directive on assigning cases in Rivers courts” Vanguard (05 June, 2014)< http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/06/reactions-trail-njc-directive-assigning-cases-rivers-courts/> accessed 03/12/2014.

[6] Ade Adesomoju, “CJN decries closure of Rivers courts” Punch (Lagos, 08 December, 2014)<http://www. punchng.com/news/cjn-decries-continued-closure-of-rivers-courts/> accessed 08 December, 2014.

[7] Kelvin Ebiri, “Rivers blames NJC members for crisis in judiciary” The Guardian (Lagos, 27 August, 2014)<http://www. ngrguardiannews.com/news/national-news-176716-rivers-blames-njc-members-for-crisis-in-judiciary/>accessed 03 December, 2014.