Activities at the Rivers State Judiciary headquarters, Port Harcourt, were yesterday stalled as lawyers under the aegis of the Forum of Concerned Lawyers of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Port Harcourt branch, staged a peaceful protest over the non-appointment of a chief judge in the state.

The state has been without a chief judge, after the three months duration for an acting chief judge occupied by Justice Peter Agumagu, expired in November, 2013.

The placard-carrying lawyers, who blocked the entrance to the judiciary, chanted, “All we are saying, give us a chief judge” and “Worgu Boms must go.”

Inscriptions on their placards read: “Don’t politicise the judiciary,” “Amaechi the only man with three powers,” “Worgu Boms must go,” “Worgu Boms resign or follow the law,” “Operation 271, sub-section 4,” “Rule of law, not rule of man” and “Amaechi leave judiciary out of politics, swear-in a chief judge.”

The lawyers, who also got solidarity from Civil Liberties Organisation, said the non-appointment of a chief judge, had adversely affected virtually all judiciary activities in the state, adding that over 1,000 cases were pending and inmates languishing in prisons. The protesters accused Governor Chibuike Amaechi, the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Worgu Boms and the NBA, of denying prison inmates their rights to freedom.

Chief Coordinator of the forum, Rev. Chris Itanunoala, while addressing his colleagues at the protest, urged the state government not to destroy the judiciary.

“Give us the most senior judge as the chief judge. There are over 1,000 cases lying there. This is our farmland. Rivers State Government don’t destroy it,” he said, insisting that the situation would not be allowed to continue.

Secretary of the NBA, Kingsley Chukwu, said the protest was a worthy course because the forum was condemning impunity in the state. He pointed out that over 90 per cent of inmates at the Maximum Prisons Port Harcourt, were awaiting trial. “It goes beyond the government. It goes beyond individual interest.”

Another senior lawyer, Chima Boms, said the reason for gathering was to ensure that absolute power was not in the hand of a person.

According to him, a state could not be run on sentiment, but ideology and advised the governor to ponder over the contentious issue.

“Amaechi should stop, think for a moment and do the right thing. You cannot run a state on sentiment. It has to do with principle.”

They, however, insisted that a substantive and the most senior judge in the state should be appointed and should be Justice Daisy Okocha, who had already been screened by the National Judicial Commission (NJC).

•Credit (text only): Daily Sun. Photo shows Governor Amaechi.