Benue CJ remains in office until petition against him is probed, says NJC

The National Judicial Council (NJC) says Maurice Ikpambese, the chief judge of Benue, will remain in office until an investigation into the petition against him is carried out.

On Tuesday, the Benue house of assembly recommended the suspension of Ikpambese over alleged abuse of office and gross misconduct.

The resolution was made after a letter from Hyacinth Alia, governor of Benue, was read during the plenary 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.

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

In a statement on Wednesday, Kemi Ogedengbe, NJC’s deputy director of information, said the council has received the petition against Ikpambese.

Ogedengbe said there are clear provisions of the Constitution on the appointment and discipline of judicial officers.

“Unfortunate as this development is, council wishes to reiterate that there are clear and unambiguous provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 on discipline and appointment of Judicial officers vested in the council, which clearly are not adhered to in the instant case,” the statement reads.

“Although, the Council had this morning received a petition against Hon. Justice Maurice Ikpambese, that petition is yet to be investigated in line with Council’s investigation procedure and the principles of fair hearing.

“As far as Council is therefore concerned, until the complaint is investigated and deliberated upon by it, Hon. Justice Maurice Ikpambese remains the Chief Judge of Benue State.”