The immediate past Rivers State commissioner for Lands and Survey, Mr Ezemonye Ezekiel-Amadi, has said that the National Judicial Council (NJC) never authorized the extension of the tenure of the state’s acting chief judge, Justice Daisy Wotube Okocha, and that of the acting president of the state’s customary court of appeal, Justice Christie Gabriel-Nwankwo.
Governor Ezebunwo Nyesom Wike, has on November 30, 2015, announced the extension of the tenure of Okocha and Gabriel-Nwankwo, having been authorized by the NJC.
But speaking to newsmen in Port Harcourt yesterday, Ezekiel-Amadi, called on the state government to tell the people of the state who authorized the extension of the tenures of the acting chief judge and the acting president of the customary court of appeal saying the claims by the state government were untrue.
He said, “The extension of the tenure giving to Justice Daisy Okocha as acting chief judge, and Justice Christie Gabriel-Nwankwo as acting president of the customary court of appeal were done without any constitutional power by Nyesom Wike.
“The constitution provides that only the National Judicial Council can grant such extension. There is no record to show that NJC granted those extensions. In my previous interview, I challenged them to produce evidence or proof that NJC actually granted those extensions.”
The former commissioner frowned at moves by the state government to trivialize what he described as constitutional issue on the tenure of Justices Daisy Okocha and Christie Gabriel-Nwankwo.
