The All Progressives Congress (APC) says it will petition
the National Judicial Council (NJC) over Augusta Kingsley-Chukwu, a judge of
the Rivers state high court presiding over some cases involving the party.
In a statement on Wednesday, Lanre Issa-Onilu, APC
spokesman, said the judge has not been fair to the party as it works towards
repositioning the APC in Rivers.
The supreme court had nullified all the party’s congress in
Rivers and this denied the APC from participating in the 2019 general election.
Issa-Onilu said based on the development, the party decided
to set up a caretaker committee that would oversee congresses to elect new
leaders at all levels of the state.
However, the APC spokesman said the party has not been able
to constitute the caretaker committee because of cases that have been filed in
court.
“On 6th September, 2019 the APC constituted a caretaker
committee to pilot the affairs of the party in Rivers State. The party also
scheduled the conduct of congresses to elect the executives of the party at
various levels,” he said.
“One Ibrahim Umah immediately instituted a court action at
the Rivers State High Court challenging the proposed congresses of the APC and
obtained an interim injunction restraining the APC from conducting the proposed
congresses.
“The APC objected to the jurisdiction of the court to
entertain the suit and on 18th December 2019 the court struck out the suit for
want of jurisdiction, thereby allowing the APC to proceed with its re-strategising
process and conduct of congresses.
“Before the court rendered its decision striking out the
suit, one Igo Aguma filed a similar suit against the APC challenging the
composition of the caretaker committee. The suit was filed on 16th December,
2019 and assigned to Justice Augusta Kingsley-Chukwu.
“The APC was entitled to 21 days within which to enter an
appearance and file a defence to the suit. Curiously, it was brought to our
attention that Justice Augusta Kingsley-Chukwu had abridged the time to 48
hours.”
Issa-Onilu said they were surprised to find out that the
judge’s husband is a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader “who currently
serves as the legal adviser of the PDP in Rivers state.”
“The APC expected Justice Augusta Kingsley-Chukwu to have
followed the time-honoured tradition of judicial officers such as Justice
Zainab Bulkachuwa, President of the Court of Appeal and Justice Mary Peter
Odili JSC who had recused themselves from adjudicating over cases that would
likely impact on the political interest of their spouses,” he said.
“Disappointedly, Augusta Kingsley-Chukwu proceeded to
entertain the suit and granted an injunction restraining the APC and the
caretaker committee from taking any steps whatsoever.
“It is clear to us that the PDP in connivance with Justice
Augusta Kingsley-Chukwu has perfected plans to keep APC in Rivers state in
perpetual paralysis through endless suits and injunctions.”
While calling on Ibrahim Muhammad, chief justice of Nigeria
(CJN), to caution judges, the APC spokesman said his party would also write a
petition against Kingsley-Chukwu.
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