High and Magistrate Courts in Umuahia, Abia State, were closed down on January 25 as the long standing tussle between the official and legal over which of the two arms control the courts in the state, achieved the pinnacle. The tussle in the end snowballed and prompted the implied evacuation of the State Chief Judge, CJ, Justice Theresa Uzokwe, for asserted offense and overbearing by the determination of the State Assembly on January 26. Abia Chief Judge, Justice Theresa Uzokwe The suspension of the CJ has again raised the clean on how a Chief Judge or a Judge of the High Court can be expelled from office in accordance with the arrangements of the 1999 Constitution as revised. In particular, Sections 292(1)(a)(ii) of the 1999 Constitution as revised clarifies how a judge of the state High Court or the Chief Judge can be expelled from office. The Constitution states: "Boss Judge of a State, Grand Kadi of a Sharia Court of Appeal or President of a Customary Court of Appeal of a State, by the Governor following up on an address upheld by 66% dominant part of the House of Assembly of the State, asking that he be expelled for his powerlessness to release the elements of his office or arrangement (in the case of emerging from sickness of brain or of body) or for unfortunate behavior or repudiation of the Code of Conduct, regardless, other than those to which section (an) of this subsection applies, by the President or, by and large, the Governor following up on the suggestion of the National Judicial Council that the legal officer be so evacuated for his failure to release the elements of his office or arrangement (in the case of emerging from ailment of psyche or of body) or for offense or negation of the Code of Conduct. Any individual who has held office as a legal officer should not on stopping to be a legal officer for any reason at all, from that point show up or go about as a lawful professional under the watchful eye of any courtroom or council in Nigeria." Reacting to the suspension arrange, senior legal advisors, common society gatherings and some concerned individuals from the Bar uncovered their psyches on the issue. Unless NJC prescribe to the representative, he can't act-Prof. Itse Sagay, SAN "It is a situation of stand when expert can simply accept control it doesn't have under the law; this naturally prompts disorder. Before you can evacuate a Judge, an appeal to must be composed against the Judge to the National Judicial Council, NJC and they will decide to hear it. It is after they have heard it; they can choose to clear him or suspend him and prescribe to the representative to evacuate him. Unless NJC prescribes to the senator to evacuate the Chief Judge, the representative can't act. The House of Assembly has nothing to do with it. It is the NJC that will initially prescribe her evacuation. This will make frustration in the brains of normal Nigerians. What the representative has done is invalid and void – Mr. Lanre Ogunlesi, SAN "It isn't right for the Governor or the House of Assembly to evacuate her on the grounds that there is a Supreme Court choice on it as of now. You can't simply expel a legal officer, or a Chief Judge that way; there must be proposal from the National Judicial Council, NJC. What the representative has done is invalid and void. When something is invalid and void, what happened never existed." Legislature can evacuate a Chief Judge, yet not as a Judge—Chief Goddy Uwazurike "I figure the appropriate response must be placed in legitimate point of view. One, I am not mindful that the Chief Judge has been sacked. All I read was that she has been suspended by the House. It is the NJC, that will influence a judge and that to can sack you as a judge. To be the Chief Judge, you have an uncommon arrangement, endorsement of the NJC or proposal to the senator who at that point sends same to the House for affirmation. In this way, in the event that they say they need to test what she has done, they are still inside their privilege and that ought to be finished by the law. "They ought not permit what occurred in Kwara State to rehash itself. As it were, a Chief Judge experiences established arrangement, so anything that ought to be done must experience the constitution entirely. The House can't expel her as Judge; the House can just evacuate her as a Chief Judge or suspend her as a Chief Judge however has no energy to delegate another Chief Judge. Thus, she has not been expelled but rather suspended. "The vast majority don't know how capable the lawmaking body is. Give us a chance to begin with the National Assembly. The National Assembly has the ability to get a request of against the Chief Justice of Nigeria and set up an advisory group to test him. The National Assembly likewise has energy to test the Chief Judge. The state council has a similar power. The main thing is for them to take after the Constitution. The council can expel somebody as a Chief Judge however not as a sitting judge of the court." It is egregious strike on the freedom of the Judiciary—Joseph Otteh, Access to Justice "The implied suspension of Hon. Equity Uzokwe and arrangement of Justice Obisike Orji as acting Chief Judge of the state is a fierce infringement of the Constitution, and a consider attack against the freedom of the Judiciary ensured by the Constitution. "Initially, the council of Abia State has no forces to suspend the Chief Judge or any Judge of the Abia State Judiciary. In indicating to do as such, the official and administrative branches have exceeded their forces, and in addition usurped the part and purview of the NJC. "Neither the lawmaking body nor the Executive Governor can name an acting Chief Judge without the proposal of the NJC. As the Supreme Court has demanded, the NJC must be associated with any procedure to evacuate a Chief Judge of a state. The NJC to the extent we know, has not itself suspended or approved the Governor to either suspend Hon. Equity Uzokwe as Chief Judge of Abia State, or delegate an acting Chief Judge amid the time of that suspension." From the briefs we have gotten, this issue started blending before and after the arrangement of Hon. Equity Theresa Uzokwe as the Chief Judge of Abia State. She is an indigene of Anambra State, not from Abia and they don't that way. She is the Chair, Abia State Judicial Service Commission, JSC, by ideals of her office. The Attorney-General of the state, Chief Kalu Umeh, SAN, set up a parallel JSC that indicated to end the arrangement of the Chief Registrar, CR of the High Court of Abia State, Elizabeth Akwiwu-Chukwu, (Ms) and Umeh and his JSC delegated another Mr. Ben Anyanwu. The CJ and her CR challenged the greater part of the egregious discourtesy to the workplace of the CJ. Moreover, posting of justices starting with one locale then onto the next inside the state by CJ was opposed and unlawfully contradicted by AG on state TV on the 'specialist' of his parallel JSC in Nov-Dec 2017. CR Elizabeth stood up to AG Umeh that he does not have the legitimate support to revoke Hon. CJ through Abia State media apparatus on TV. More awful still, assaults on the funds of Abia State Judiciary; AG Umeh's Judicial Service Commission, JSC, kept in touch with Zenith Bank Plc to change the signatories of Abia State Judiciary account from CR Elizabeth to illicitly designated CR Ben. Again Her Lordship questioned on grounds that AG isn't to designate a CR for the CJ. What's more, now, the whole Abia State official deliver glove with the Abia State House of Assembly, organized that terrible demonstration of "suspension." Suspended CJ yet to get appeal—Carol Ajie "Equity Theresa Uzokwe is yet to get a duplicate of the referenced request of dated January 22, 2018. Whoever has it ought to distribute it. They didn't send a duplicate to anybody. Shouldn't she be served so she could take a gander at it and react to it? The Speaker, in intrigue with Attorney-General of the state, are accumulating data. They refered to segment 292(1)(ii) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999. The suspended CJ is productive, plays out her managerial obligations solidly. They negate themselves in wording
