A constitutional crisis over who will swear-in the Rivers governor-elect Nyesom Wike on May 29 may have been averted as Nigeria’s Attorney General, Mohammed Adoke has assigned the Chief Judge of Bayelsa, Justice Kate Abiri, to do the honour.
Adoke, in a statement on Tuesday, noted that with the legal vacuum in Rivers, where there is currently no chief judge or President of the Customary Court of Appeal, strict compliance with the provisions of Section 185(1-2) of the 1999 Constitution as amended impossible.
“It will be recalled that Chief Barr. Nyesom Wike, CON was declared the Governor-Elect of Rivers State following the gubernatorial and houses of assembly elections conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on 11th April 2015.
“It is therefore expected that he will be sworn into Office on 29th May 2015 in accordance with the provisions of section 185(1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999.
“I have requested the Chief Judge of Bayelsa State to administer the oath of allegiance and oath of office on the governor-elect of Rivers State in accordance with section 185(2) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999.”
That section of the constitution provides that the oath of allegiance and the oath of office shall be administered by the Chief Judge of the state or Grand Khadi of the Sharia Court of Appeal of the state, if any, or President of the Customary Court of Appeal of the state, if any, or the person for the time being respectively appointed to exercise the functions of any of those offices in any state.
Adoke said the invitation to the Bayelsa chief judge to administer the oath on Wike is not an anomaly, but in accordance with the 1999 Constitution and should be respected by everyone.
The Rivers judiciary has been in a protracted political crisis, which stalled the appointment of a new chief judge after Justice Iche Ndu retired form the bench in August 2013.
While the National Judicial Council – a government body established to maintain judicial discipline as well as recommend judges for Nigeria’s courts recommended Justice Daisy Okocha to become the next chief judge, outgoing state governor Rotimi Amaechi nominated, Justice Agumagu, an action which has left that state without a judicial head for almost two years.
