The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has asked the governor of Imo, Hope Uzodinma, to allow the National Judicial Council to take part in the process of appointing the Acting Chief Judge of the State.
HURIWA said that the governor’s choice of skipping the first three most senior judges in the state’s judiciary to pick the fourth most senior judge as the acting chief judge is questionable.
HURIWA said that since the three most senior judges have been recognised as competent to continue serving in their judicial roles, they are likewise qualified to assume the position of acting Chief Judge or the substantive Chief Judge of the state.
In a statement signed by the group’s National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, on Tuesday, it stated that the “powers of the governor to make such an appointment of acting chief judge or substantive chief judge are contingent on the buy-in of the National Judicial Council empowered to approve or make judicious recommendations to the governor as specified in Chapter 7, Part 2, Section 271.”
Recall that the governor had last week performed a swearing-in ceremony for the acting chief judge and two commissioner nominees at the New Exco Chamber, Government House, Owerri.
