Pro-Wike Lawmakers Tried To Remove Chief Judge Over Fubara’s Impeachment – Jega

Political analyst, Mahmud Jega, has claimed that the Rivers State House of Assembly attempted to remove the Chief Judge, Samuel Amadi, a few months ago due to Governor Siminalayi Fubara’s planned impeachment.

Speaking during an appearance on Arise News, Jega claimed that, by all indications, the House had failed to secure his cooperation to form a panel that would automatically return a guilty verdict against Fubara and his deputy.

He argued that all matters of impeachment of Governors and their Deputies require a level of partisanship on the part of the Chief Justice of State for it to be successful.

Jega said, “You see, when I think back as far back as the Second Republic, in all impeachment matters of governors and deputy governors, it requires a certain level of partisanship on the part of the chief judges of states for it to be successful.

“Why did I say that, the courts themselves in 1981 when we had the first case of the Kaduna state assembly trying to impeach the governor, the High Court, the Appeal Court and the Supreme Court all said that the courts cannot stop the assembly from impeachment process because it’s like stopping it from passing any other law, because they are constitutionally empowered to do that.

“But this time, as we can see, the courts in Rivers in particular have stopped the process. That’s just one point. Now, when we discussed this matter some months ago, I did point out that, okay, the Wike camp has the overwhelming majority of members of the Rivers assembly enough to impeach the governor, but they have one obstacle, which is the Chief Judge of Rivers State.

“It is the Chief Judge who will appoint the panel. And in all the experiences that we have had of impeachment of governors and deputy governors, the Chief Judges usually collaborate to set up a panel that will return a guilty verdict.

“And the Constitution says, If the panel brings back not guilty verdict, that is the end of the process.

“And I suspect that in Rivers state, we are heading in the same direction.

“And the pro- Wike members of the assembly were aware of it, because some months ago, they tried to remove this chief judge, Samuel Amadi. They tried to remove him.

“They said that he falsified his age or something like that, and I could see immediately it was because they probably failed to get his cooperation to set up a kind of panel that will automatically return a guilty verdict against the governor.”