₦airaland Forum

my.thoughts:
thank u for the insight.

U re welcome.

my.thoughts:
Let me start by say FrankC has a very strong point oh. It is very sad that even though most of us watched him on TV when he arrived and might have ascertained from the visuals only, not audio( cos dem no gree make the man talk) dat he is not 'fit' to be governor but what does the constitution say?-that a man or woman must be mentally fit (not physically fit) for he or she to govern over a state. But the big question now is-who ascertains whether somebody is mentally fit or not? (A doctor or psychologist, this another debate 4 another day) Bt however if only people can get audio evidence but i can bet u that this will definitely be contested by his lawyers(whether d evidence is credible or not or whether it it is admissible in court or not). However, somebody might have problem with his wind pipe and that might affect his or her speech and that does not mean that the person is not mentally fit to govern a state. Bt our law its structured in such a way that somebody its assumed to be mentally ok until proven otherwise, lawyers in the forum can correct me if am wrong oh (am not a lawyer). The onus now falls on the people of Taraba to find strong evidence that prove otherwise-that he is mentally incapacited.

Well, u re wrong, because d constitution contemplates both physical and mental stability and not jst mental stability as some ve wrongly said. Section 189(2) provides thus:"where d medical panel certifies in its report that in its opinion d governor or deputy governor is suffering from such INFIRMITY OF BODY or mind......." So, physical fitnesses is also a consideration.

Demdem: And what av I been advocating since? By the way, only an acting CJ was appointed pending the substantive.

Mind you,nobody is saying he cannot be appointed a CJ,of course he can,bt not an acting CJ.D issue of fairness is not really important at this stage,maybe it would be if u would champion d cause for its amendment, then you can rightly bring it up.Maybe I will be on your side then,bt not at this stage.

Demdem:
Good to know u acknowledge that. Besides ur position is also an opinion. Just an opinion and not an authority on the constitution. The more reason why I keep asking u to go to the court and let it interpret that part of the constitution.

Well,lets leave it for d court to decide.

smartchoice: Oga make sense and stop attempts at mis representation of what you quoted...interprete it like a LEARNED FELLOW! I HATE IT WHEN PPLE WHO ARE SUPPOSED TO KNOW RESORT TO BEER PARLOUR ARGUMENTS

I see no need to reply you on this.

smartchoice: he is equivalent to a judge of the high court in fact was earlier in the high court!

What a shallow argument,am forced to say.Did d constitution say "the most senior judge of the high court or its equivalent "? "Was earlier in the high court" but he is no longer there! How is dat too hard to understand?

Demdem: and u that know, how come ur position run contrary to members of the Bar. or is it politics also?

It could be politics, or u mean its not possible? I quickly tried to source that piece of news of d nba lending their support, and their reasoning,but I only saw d news and no reasoning at all.I was also able to find out that it was d local branch nba of d state that expressed their opinion on d issue,and that is just what it is;an opinion.

Demdem: The decision of the appellate cant be set aside by the high court and vice versa. this cant be said about the magistrate court whose decision can be set aside by both. On that basis i regard the appellate has an high court on its own even if its not called such. its left for the court itself to determine if its so or not and not ur interpretation of the constitution.
lucky u, Amaechi only appointed an acting CJ pending when the substantive will be appointed which is well received by the Bar itself. Or are u also insinuating that the Bar also doesnt know what they are doing? If u have any issue about this, proceed to court abeggi.

Obviously u re forcing yourself to comment on an issue u know little about.

REHOZIBAH: After all said and done...I hope all the charge and bail lawyers would allow us rest

Like Demdem said I believe the principle of 'alternate jurisdiction' and 'lenght of appointment' rather than age-wise seniority informed the decision of Amaechi to appoint Agumagu

Kindly explain this principle of alternate jurisdiction pls.

$ugardaddy:
NBA and all legal luminaries say the appointment is in line with the 1999 constitution. So what are you ranting about?

Why dont u pick up a copy of d constitution and read it,and then come up with ur own opinion. D constitution is not written in arabic.

eldoradoxx: Some conventions have assumed the status of law that it becomes non-derogable. By practice, no junior has ever been appointed CJN or President of Court of Appeal or CJ of State or FHC over and above the most senior. NJC has its guideline and it is that it must nominate the most senior. The reason being that if the most senior is not disqualified from being a judge, then he is qualified to be head his court if he becomes the most senior. Yea, thanks for the correction, NJC actually recommends who becomes CJ and the Governor is bound to appoint whoever is recommended as he has no choice here. Except if there is a serious allegation that should disqualify a candidate from being a judge, the legislature must ratify. Seniority guides appointment of both substantive and acting heads of Court.

D current chief judge of Borno state is not d most senior judge of d state high court,even d outgoing chief judge of Rivers system state was was nt d most senior at d time of his appointment. It is jst a practice, and not d law to appoint d most senior as a substantive chief judge. I dnt think this is one of those conventions that can assume d status of law in light of d express provision of d constitution.For d constitution to ve expressly provided for d qualification of seniority in d case of appointing an acting CJ and then omitted it with regards to d substantive CJ shows it is intentional.That is not to say am in support of that provision, but that is d law.

Demdem: [b]There is nothing wrong in what he has done. Instead this act of his will open another chapter entirely in the Nigeria judicial system. Why should a court with alternate jurisdiction be looked upon "inferiorly"? Is it a curse that the most senior judge in the rivers state judiciary found himself in appellate customary. At a time when peeps are talking about removal of discrimination BTW hnd and Bsc, u are advocating for more discrimination for the judicial process. What encouragement will be for members of the bench to proceed to customary if no matter what they do or their number of years in office, they simply can't head the state judiciary.
Ur Myopic views is simply not making u see the bigger picture. Ur self acclaim un bias position is skrewed and of little value.
It's good for our jurisprudence if it determines if the appellate customary that has alternate jurisdiction with the high court can also be regarded as high court. Even if the judgement isn't in favour of this, I Desire a review of this part of the constitutional.
There shouldn't be any form of discrimination in the judiciary.[/b]

Can u pls explain what u mean by a court of alternate jurisdiction.If u ve any issue with that express provision of d constitution or it seems discriminatory to you,then what u should be clamouring for is its amendment and not trying to twist it to suit u.D fact that am of d opinion that d appointment is wrong,does not necessarily mean am comfortable with d provision,but d fact remains that it is d law until it is amended,and should not be twisted to suit selfish interest. Ur argument on inferiority and discrimination does not hold water. Need I remind u that president of a customary court of appeal is not answerable to d chief jude of a state with regards to matters of that court? Mind u also,there is no provision in d constitution that bars a judge of customary court of appeal from being appointed a chief judge of a state.So what's d rant abt inferiority and discrimination about?

Demdem:
That Amaechis appointed judge is the most senior in rivers judiciary is not in doubt, the bone of contention is if the appeal customary court can be regarded as high court.
This is something the courts has to decide on. Kudos to Amaechi for bringing this issue to fore.

I wil rather u say kudos to him for doing what is glaringly wrong.That provision is not ambiguous and does not even need d time of d court,which is very obvious to every unbiased person,which I doubt if u re one of them.

eldoradoxx: It is not about Amechi Haters, but that Amechi Likers have failed to remove sentiment in looking at this issue critically. I am aware that in appointment of a Chief Judge of any court whether Supreme Court, Court of Appeal, Federal High Court or State High Cours the most singular important consideration is seniority. The most senior judge on the bench (not chronological age) is sworn in immediately either as substanive CJ or sworn in as Acting CJ when ever a vaccume exists in the position of Head of the particular court. This is so in other to insulate the appointment of CJ from political preference of the Governor or President. That is why 3 different bodies have hands in who becomes CJ. The most powerful being NJC. The Governor nominates the most senior judge wheher he likes the person or not (infact he is bound by the constitution to so do), NJC ratifies the nomination. And the House of Assembly in case of State CJ or Senate in case of Federal Court approve the appointment. Their approval is a matter of course. No body whose appointmentt has been ratified by NJC has ever rejected by theLegislaure. Thiis is due to the fact that a person who is worthy of being a judge cannot be said not to be worthy of heading the judiciary. In Amechi's case, the constitution says "The most senior judge of the HIGH COURT". Amechi himself alluded to this fact. Now tell me if the title "President of Customary Court of Appeal" of River state sounds the same as " Judge of the High Court Rivers state" ? Admitted, a judge of high Court of a state ranks equal with the president of customary court of Appeal in same way President of Court of Appeal ranks equal to a jusice of supreme court, but does the fact of their ranking make them the same.? President of Customary Court of Appeal is already the head of his own Court which is Customary Cour of Appeal and does not need to metamorphose into a High Court judge and to exercise the jurisdiction he has not. Every action he will take as a CJ of Rivers state would be null and void and ulra vires because there is surely a difference beween paracetamol and panadol evenhough they serve similar purpose. I definiely know that the NJC will rise up to this and protect the judiciary from poliical vultures. Justice Daisy Okocha remains the recognised CJ in waiting of Rivers state and I trust Justice Alomo Mariam Mukhtar CJN to deal ruthlessly with tha impostor tha was sworn in by Amechi. He would as well wave good bye to his career as a judge. I guess he must have been summoned to Abuja to be grilled by NJC. That is the beauty of the legal profession, you are checked by team of eminent collegues

D issue of seniority is more of a convention than law.There is no provision in d constitution that makes it a criteria for d appointment of a substantive chief judge not even appointment of chief justice of Nigeria..Its only when appointing an acting that d issue of seniority comes in.Also, d NJC only recommends,but d appointment is done by d governor subject to confirmation by d house.

4llerbuntu: ARE YOU AWARE THAT IT IS THE [size=18pt]NATIONAL[/size] JUDICIAL COUNCIL THAT RECOMMENDS A CANDIDATE TO THE GOVERNOR AND THAT CHOICE IS RATIFIED BY THE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY (NOW THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY IN RIVERS CASE)?
Section 281(1) Constitution 2004 FRN


are u also aware this man's name has been forwarded to the national assembly for ratification?


Are you aware of the qualifications prescribed the the Rivers State Laws for Customary Court Judges? Per s281(3)
You should be able to verify that the man does not qualify under that too before dishing out your "opinions"

I know some states specifically require the President of the Customary Court to be a High Court Judge at the time of appointment.


It may well be that this man is of the same cadre as the high court judges and probably got his earlier appointment because he was the most senior judge following the former CJ of the state.




So is this really a case of "Amaechi" choosing the wrong person??

PDP arselickers sha........ LEARNED IGNORANCE

I took d pain of quoting d relevant section of d 1999 constitution in order to save people from reading incoherent and misleading arguments like yours ,with due respect. And to even think that u went to d extent of throwing insult around is surprising. First of all of all,there is nothing like 2004 constitution as erroneously cited.We only ve d 1999 constitution,and d various amendment. Also,d section u cited,section 281,deals with appointment of customary court of appeal president, which is not applicable here since we are talking of appointment of a chief judge of a state.Thirdly,d issue of recommendation by d NJC does not come in here since its an acting chief judge that is being appointed and no:t a substantive chief judge, in which case it would be on d recommendation of d NJC. Let me refer u to section 271(1) of d 1999 constitution FRN.Also its not abt appointment of customary court judge but d chief judge of a state(in dis case acting).I will advise you to go through d article again,pick up a d 1999 constitution(not 2004 dis time around) and take ur time to read nd understand before coming out to expose ur ignorance and insult people.

Section 271(4) of d 1999 constitution,which is applicable here provides as follows" if d office of d chief judge of a state is vacant or if d person holding d office is for any reason unable to perform d functions of d office, then until a person has been appointed to and has assumed the function of that office or until the person holdings d office has resumed those functions,the Governor of d state shall appoint the most senior judge of d High court to perform those functions".Going by d report, d Governor appointed d president of d customary court of appeal as d most senior judge, but d constitution provides that d appointee shall be d most senior judge of the HIGH COURT.Justice Agumagu not being a judge of d high court, is not qualified constitutionally for d appointment. To that extent,Governor Amechi got it wrong.

make Dzeko try na,haba!

now we re talking

f rain c: city boys don miss 2 chances na na
dis winch goali just deny Dzeco goal o

Dzeko too miss goal abeg

f rain c: newcastle no no wetin dey happene to dem dis nite

were they expecting to win d match before?

make dem knack dem up to 7-0 abeg

f rain update joor, am nt watching d match

which time yaya begin score freekick? New season resolution ?

wetin dzeko dey wait for na? E no go collect at least one goal?

with d red card,city should beat them like 5-0

I dey follow u bro

so man city no get fans?

MaximusDMeridux: Why are ibos so closed minded racists? Well, we already know the SE is landlocked but as other states move ahead by trying a different approach, a different party, different people and most succeed, I hope you bigots don't cry and try to attach to the SW (as we have declared you unwelcome in our lands and you should return back to your lands) or the SS (where you've tried for years to leech unto them though they made it clear during the war that they don't want biafra)! I can't wait to see the backwardness of PDP continuously ruin your lives while you wait for your tolled, concessioned bridge if it is ever built! Have they finished testing the brown, clayey soil samples yet??

With all due respect sir,I think u come across as a racist yourself by what you have written. I mean, how can you make a conclusion about a whole ethnic group just on the basis of a comment made by just one person or a few persons? I think you ought to be more intelligent than that,with all due respect.

akpomeme: APC just shut itself on the foot. The north sees that guy like a hero, APC just lost the north to stupidity.

Must everything be seen through the eyes of politics?

DheBuck: don't try to date a friends sister,so wrong

Really? What makes it to be wrong? Jst being curious!

onyxo76: you are in a vehicle traveling and someone keeps playing loud music on his phone.

someone is crossing the street and texting a message without even caring if a car is coming.

D first one dey vex me die.I wil be like"this is not ur house for christ sake, its a public place and u jst ve 2 respect that" So annoying!

victorv12: A corrupt system. A man that can carry the ceremonial mace of his state without any regard to attack is fellow lawmaker can still be set free by his state. Nigeria politics is not meant for the civil minded, it's for the dogs!!!

He was not set free bro,he was only granted bail,which he is entitled to constitutionally.