Benue assembly recommends suspension of CJ over ‘abuse of office’

The Benue house of assembly has recommended the suspension of Maurice Ikpambese, the chief judge (CJ) of the state, over alleged abuse of office and gross misconduct.

The resolution followed a letter from Hyacinth Alia, governor of Benue, to the assembly, which was read on Tuesday by Saater Tiseer, the house majority leader.

According to the letter, there are five allegations against the chief judge, including abuse of office by issuing a directive to overturn the Benue state electoral law passed by the assembly and assented to by the governor.

Others are misappropriation and mismanagement of the budgetary allocation and finances of the Benue state judiciary, engagement with politicians and political officeholders for favourable judicial outcomes, and indirect participation and incitement of industrial actions against the state executive.

He was also accused of being involved in the “acts of bribery and corruption and undue favouritism and dire insistence on cronies holding unmerited positions”.

Speaking on the allegations against Ikpambese, Peter Ipusu, the chief whip of the house, said the CJ was wrong by tampering with the state electoral law.

Becky Opin, who represents Gboko east, moved the motion for the matter to be put to a vote.

Twenty-three out of the 31 lawmakers in the house voted for the removal of the chief judge.

Hyacinth Dajoh, the speaker of the assembly, directed the immediate swearing-in of the next-in-line in the state judicial office as the acting chief judge.

Dajoh said the complaint against Ikpambese would be forwarded to the National Judicial Council (NJC) “for an honest, independent, hitch-free, transparent, and diligent investigation into the allegations”.