Category: Sentry

The judiciary in Benue State prides itself as one of the best in the country. The environment in which the staff of this critical arm of government operates however leaves much to be desired. While the state may boast some of the best and most incorruptible judicial officers in the land, the environment in which they function is nothing to justify their status.

The work environment is nothing short of an eyesore. Dilapidated and ramshackle buildings adorn the Ministry of Justice, which houses the office of the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice as well as those of other judicial officials.

Some buildings at the Ministry are without roofs, while rodents and cockroaches have taken over some of the buildings. Files awaiting legal advice are being eaten up by termites, while some workers have turned some of the offices into stores where they keep farming implements like hoes and cutlasses. Cassava stems are also kept in some of the offices perhaps as justification for Benue’s nickname as the Food Basket of the Nation.

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The foregoing is the sorry state of infrastructure that confronted the new Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice in the State, Barrister Fidelis Mnyim. The fine gentleman and legal expert, who had won many election petitions before his appointment as Attorney-General, probably did not imagine the pathetic state of infrastructure in the ministry.

An official of the ministry, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Sentry that the ramshackle buildings that dotted the premises had been there for more than 20 years.

“Since Benue State was created from Plateau State and the offices were built, no government has made any effort to renovate them, so they have remained in those conditions,” she said.

Some judicial staff, who told Sentry that they operate under trees, pleaded with Governor Hyacinth Alia to end the misery and fix the buildings for smooth working conditions.

Yet investigation revealed that the rot at the Benue State judicial headquarters is a child’s play compared to what obtains at the various courts across the state.  Some of the courts have no chairs or fans, forcing judges to sit on broken chairs in hot courtrooms, while litigants share benches with lawyers.

The situation, our correspondent gathered, makes smooth and quick dispensation of justice difficult.

Concerned citizens who spoke with Sentry pleaded with Governor Alia to fix the rot without further delay.

Well-meaning Nigerians in Abuja, the nation’s capital, woke up on Tuesday to the shocking sight of an imposing billboard with the bold inscription ‘All Eyes on the Judiciary’.

Coming at a time that the judgment of the Presidential Election Tribunal (PET) was being awaited over the petitions filed by the presidential candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labour Party (LP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and Mr. Peter Obi, against the victory of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the presidential election held on February 25, observers had no hesitation in concluding that it was a deliberate attempt to coerce, blackmail or intimidate the judges in the tribunal to favour a particular candidate with their decision.

It therefore came as no surprise that the government reacted promptly by dissolving the Advertising Standard Panel (ASP) secretariat for approving the advert described by the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON) as insensitive.” The Advertising Standards Panel did not approve the exposed concepts, hence the council has directed that all the exposed materials brought down immediately and the violators sanctioned,” ARCON’s Director-General, Dr Olalekan Fadolapo, said.

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A senior lawyer, who is in the know of the goings on in judicial circles, however, told Sentry that the brains behind the billboard and the message it bore would be wasting their time if they think that the judges at the Presidential Election Tribunal could be swayed by any effort to blackmail or intimidate them because they are judges who all have come of age and are too experienced and courageous to be knuckled under by “the outrageous move”.

Asked whether the judges could be intimidated by the billboard and the message contained on it, the senior lawyer said: “How can? Our judges are men and women who have not only come of age but are too experienced and courageous to be intimidated or blackmailed by such messages.

“Remember that it is not the first time they are faced with such situations. Only recently, a fake piece of news went viral in the social media that one of the judges had resigned because he was angry that a particular candidate was being favoured by the tribunal.

“I can assure you that the judges are focused and would not be distracted by such antics from those who might want to intimidate them to get from the tribunal the results they could not get from the polling booths.”

Between former Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), it is different strokes for different folks. While the former is basking in the euphoria of his nomination by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as a minister, the latter is enmeshed once again in the quicksand of crisis.

Recall that five governors elected on the platform of the party in the last political dispensation, namely Wike, Samuel Ortom (Benue), Seyi Makinde (Oyo), Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu) and Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia), popularly called the G5, had vowed not to support the candidacy of the party’s presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and their stance was widely believed to have aided the success of the APC candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in the election.

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The grouse of the G5 governors was that the then national chairman of the party, Senator Iyorchia Ayu, ought to have been replaced with a party member from the southern part of the country since the party’s presidential candidate was also from the north. Their demand was, however, ignored by the party’s leadership, leading to the crisis that ultimately resulted in the party’s defeat at the February election.

But while the party is still smarting from the defeat, the crisis has assumed another phase with suspicions in the Atiku camp that Umar Ililya Damagum, the chieftain of the party appointed to replace Ayu as in acting capacity, is a loyalist of Wike, the acclaimed leader of the G5. Consequently, Atiku camp’s members are demanding Damagum’s removal.

Promise, they say, is a debt. The age-long aphorism is not lost on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, hence the inclusion of Cross River State Senator, John Owan-Enoh, on the list of ministerial nominees announced at the Senate on Thursday.

Senator Owan-Enoh had contested the governorship ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in May last year but lost to the current Cross River State governor, Bassey Out, following which he dragged both the party and Otu to court, alleging irregularities.

But in a deft political move, Tinubu, during his campaign visit to Cross River State as the presidential candidate of APC in December last year, publicly pleaded with Owan-Enoh to bury the hatchet and withdraw the case from court.

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A few days later, Owan-Enoh heeded Tinubu’s appeal and addressed a press conference where he announced the withdrawal of his court case.

“The public appeal by the presidential candidate and National Leader of our party is such a humbling experience which I cannot ignore under any circumstances. On this note, therefore, I have taken the hard decision to put an end to the litigation and instead work for the success of the party,” he said.

Owan-Enoh’s response was not lost on Tinubu who then promised the Senator representing Cross River Central District: “for honouring me, I will honour you.” It is remarkable that seven months later, President Tinubu has fulfilled his promise by listing him as one of the ministerial nominees.