Unending uproar over non-confirmation of Ikpeme as CJ

ADA WODU of Punch examines the controversy surrounding the non-confirmation of Justice Akon Ikpeme as the Cross River State Chief Judge as it relates to the principles of justice and fair play in the state.

The dust raised by the non-confirmation of Justice Akon Ikpeme as the substantive Chief Judge of Cross River State has yet to settle. The state House of Assembly on February 28, 2020 had postponed the confirmation of the appointment of Justice Ikpeme who was appointed in acting capacity on December 3, 2019 following the retirement of former Chief Judge, Justice Michael Edem. Her tenure in acting capacity elapsed on March 2, 2020 and on that day there was high expectation that she would be confirmed as substantive chief judge. However, that was not to be.

Pointers to her non-confirmation started manifesting on February 28, 2020 when some members of the state House of Assembly stayed away from the day’s deliberations, one of which was the confirmation of Justice Ikpeme. Announcing the postponement on that day in a chat with journalists at the Assembly complex, the Chairman of the House Committee on Information, Francis Bassey (representing Odukpani State Constituency), explained that the decision to shift the confirmation to March 2, 2020 was taken by members at an executive session because the report of the Judiciary Committee which screened the nominee was not ready.

Some believe the postponement, which precipitated tension in Cross River, was to enable the lawmakers who did not want her confirmation to buy time to dig in. It was no surprise, therefore, that lawmakers opposed to Justice Ikpeme’s confirmation endorsed a parallel report by six members of the Judiciary Committee requesting that she should not be confirmed. One of the reports was written by Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Efa Esua, representing Calabar Municipal State Constituency, while his deputy, Godwin Akwaji representing Obudu State Constituency, wrote the second report signed by six members of the seven-member Judiciary Committee that urged members not to confirm her. Esua’s report endorsed her confirmation.

Akwaji’s report which requested that Justice Ikpeme should not be confirmed as Chief Judge was read on the floor of the House by Chris Njar Ogar, representing Etung State Constituency, and listed reasons why Justice Ikpeme should not be confirmed.

Among them are, that her confirmation will pose security threat to Cross River State, that she is an indigene of Akwa Ibom and there may be likelihood of bias in the discharge of her duties and that the best interest of the state would not be served if she become the substantive chief judge.

On the issue of indigeneship, a member representing Odukpani State Constituency, Bassey Asuquo, defended Justice Ikpeme, saying she was from his constituency. Members who supported Ikpeme’s confirmation called for justice to prevail as she was eminently qualified to be confirmed as the Chief Judge. Following a stalemate over which of the reports to be adopted or rejected, the Speaker, Eteng Williams, put it to a voice vote and the members who voted to reject Justice Ikpeme’s confirmation carried the day.

Earlier on March 2, judiciary workers shut down the state high court on Mary Slessor Avenue in Calabar over the non-confirmation of Justice Ikpeme the previous week. Judges also stayed away from the courts. Some of the judges and senior lawyers were in the House of Assembly to witness Monday’s deliberation.

The Young Lawyers’ Forum of the Nigerian Bar Association had earlier called on the Assembly to follow the law and confirm Justice Ikpeme. All these protests and calls for her confirmation fell on deaf ears. They were ignored and the following day, March 3, Governor Ben Ayade swore in Justice Maurice Eneji as the new acting CJ. Eneji is the second most senior judge in the state after Justice Ikpeme. According to some lawyers, the NJC ought to have recommended Eneji’s appointment as acting Chief Judge.

Ayade said the swearing in of Justice Eneji was imperative as law and nature abhor a vacuum and urged him to dispense justice without fear or favour.

Perhaps in order to disabuse the minds of those who said Justice Ikpeme’s appointment was not confirmed because she is not an indigene of Cross River State, the governor said while swearing in Eneji, “Currently, I have over 20 non-Cross Riverians holding various appointments in my government. Some of the appointees are from far-flung states like Kano, Imo, Edo to as close as Akwa Ibom State, which has a commissioner in my cabinet. I am not known or given to sectionalism or tribalism. I believe in equity.”

Justice Eneji in his remarks pledged to carry out reforms that would aid justice delivery in the state and promised to be a listening acting Chief Judge.

“My appointment came to me as a beautiful surprise. I am coming to the office with a mind to listen. The sacred duty of a judge is to listen before adjudicating. I will listen at all times to ensure that justice is served at all times.”

Anger over how Justice Ikpeme was treated has not subsided in some quarters, even though some indigenes of the state supported her non-confirmation.

Reacting to Eneji’s appointment, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mba Ukweni, told our correspondent that “it is a very unfortunate development. It is a big shame if they don’t know the consequences of what they have done. All the flimsy excuses they are trying to give do not hold water because they are afterthought. The implication of that has far-reaching effect. What it has on the profession and the judiciary is that the independence of the judiciary we have all been clamouring for is entirely eroded.

“By picking his surrogate, no judgment will be given against the government… There is no way a governor can appoint an acting CJ without reference to the NJC which is a body that is responsible for that. When they swore in Justice Ikpeme was there no reference to the NJC? It was a deliberate plan not to allow Justice Ikpeme to attain a substantive position.”

Also reacting to the non-confirmation of Justice Ikpeme, a women leader, Ekanem Asuquo, told our correspondent, “As a woman, I feel her non-confirmation is violence against a woman because when we are talking about you discriminating against a woman because of ethnicity or where she is from, saying she is from Akwa Ibom, me I don’t understand. When a woman is married to a man and bears his name and lives with him, she comes from where her husband is from. For them to say she is from Akwa Ibom and she poses a security threat, what investigations have they conducted to show that Akon over the years has been exposing Cross River secret. What investigation did they do? Is it the DSS? Was it from the police? Was it from the Army? Where did they get that fact from to say that she is a secret threat?

“It is a smear on her character, a smear on her as a person, as a woman it is pure discrimination. That kind of discrimination is violent. We are talking about gender-based violence and this is in the full glare of everyone.

“… Asking her to retire before her time is a violation of her fundamental right. She has a right to retire when she wants. She is not found wanting in any way, and then you are coming to force her to retire. It happened to our own son (Justice Walter Onnoghen) at the national level. Cross River State cried foul. Yet what we said was wrong to be done to us at the national level is what we are doing and doing it to a woman.”

Similarly on March 4, 15 women groups in Calabar rose in defence of Justice Ikpeme. The groups that comprise Women4Women, FIDA-CRS, Efik Leadership Foundation, Women In CAN, Mbono Iban Isong Efik Association, The Women Voice, among others condemned her non-confirmation.

The groups through a protest letter signed by Senator Florence Ita-Giwa, decried what women were passing through in the state.

They stated that they were appalled at the resolution of the Cross River State House of Assembly which resulted in the rejection of Justice Akon Ikpeme as the substantive CJ “on erroneous grounds that she is from Akwa Ibom State, and therefore constitutes security risk to Cross River State.”

They added, “We are therefore unable to understand what the logic behind her disqualification or rejection is about. Although she was denied confirmation by a voice vote, the reasons had nothing to do with her competence and service to Cross River State. No specific instances of her being a security risk were established and therefore, the resort to her state of origin was vile and hateful.”

Another group, Concerned Gospel Ministers in Cross River State also joined in the defence of Justice Ikpeme and called on the NJC not to recognise Justice Eneji as the state CJ.

In a statement in Calabar and jointly signed by Archbishop Archibong Archibong and Rev. Okoi Okoi, Chairman and Secretary respectively, they alleged that delaying Justice Ikpeme’s confirmation hearing till the last day and ultimately rejecting her confirmation was deliberately done to install injustice.

“The temple of justice cannot be administered by injustice,” the stated.

They also submitted that since the reason given by the house for Justice Ikpeme’s rejection were not cogent, the state government should withdraw the appointment of Hon. Justice Maurice Eneji as acting Chief Judge and swear in Justice Akon Ikpeme in the spirit of fairness, justice and humanity.

“That the National Judicial Council should not as a matter of principle, justice and morality recognise Justice Maurice Eneji as Chief Judge of Cross River State either as acting or substantive, and should take steps to restore peace to Cross River Judiciary and belief in our judicial officers as a bastion of hope,” the forum said.

They called for the reversal of Justice Ikpeme’s rejection because “it has tacitly injected venom, fear, hate, distrust and uncertainty into the women married to Cross Riverians. This alone has threatened the fabric of marital relationship and could lead to broken homes.”

However, the state Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Tanko Ashang, insisted everything was done right by the three tiers of government until the culmination of the appointment of Justice Eneji as the acting Chief Judge of the state.