Lawyers Protest In P'Harcourt, Demand Appointment Of CJ

Scores of lawyers on Thursday embarked on a protest in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, over the failure of the State Governor, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, to appoint a substantive Chief Judge in accordance to the law.

The lawyers, who gathered at the main gate of the State High Court under the auspices of the Forum of Concerned Lawyers of The Nigeria Bar Association, Port Harcourt branch, said the absence of a chief judge in thestate was affecting court processes.

The lawyers, converged on the State High Court premises around 7.20am, chanting solidarity songs. They displayed placards with inscriptions that read: “APC or PDP not our concern; Amaechi, appoint a chief judge”; “Even in the military, there was chief judge”; “Rivers State Govt, don't play politics with the appointment of a chief judge”; “Judiciary not for sale”, and “Amaechi, remember the rule of law brought you to power”.

Addressing the protesters, the Chief Coordinator of the Forum, Reverend Chris Itamunoala, said that the vacuum created had made the annual reprieve granted to prisoners by a state chief judge impossible.

Itamunoala lamented that over 3,800 suspects in Port Harcourt Prison were still awaiting trial due to the absence of a chief judge that would assign cases to lawyers.

The Chairman of the Nigeria Bar Association, Mr. Lawrence Oko-Jaja, however, dissociated the NBA from the protest.

Punch