Legal practitioners in Rivers State have condemned the modality used by Governor Nyesom Wike in selecting Justice Simeon Chibuzor Amadi as the Chief Judge of the state.
The lawyers, under the aegis of International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) and the Concerned Lawyers in Rivers State, conveyed their dissatisfaction through press statements
The groups alleged that “the incumbent Chief Judge, Hon. Justice Adama Iyayi Laminkanra, an indigene of Edo State who would retire in May, 2021, was so appointed by the same Nyesom Wike based on seniority and hierarchy.
“Governor Wike had sworn at the time of Justice Iyayi Laminkanra’s appointment that he would sustain the policy of seniority and precedence in judicial appointments.
“He had shifted grounds unethically on ethnic considerations.”
The legal practitioners stated that they were at a loss why the governor would abandon seniority and precedence so soon when it suited him to overlook Honourable Justice Joy Akpughunum in the list sent by his Judicial Service Commission to the National Judicial Council for consideration for appointment to the office of Chief Judge “even when she is erudite, calm, learned and filled with probity.”
The groups emphasized that Justice Akpughunum was the most senior judge on the list in which Justice Simeon Amadi came a distant second with Justice E Teetito coming third.
