Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Owerri branch had on Tuesday, urged the Imo State government to resolve the crisis rocking the state judiciary in order to create way for the appointment of new judges.
Mr. S Opara, the Owerre NBA Chairman, who made the appeal in an address at the valedictory session held in honour of outgoing Justice Ngozi Opara, stated that the call was borne out of the fact that three of the state’s judges would retire this year, stressing thus, “and our judges are over-worked because of congestion of cases in all the courts.
“Whereas, the law provides for 30 judges for Imo State, we have only 17 judges with the retirement of Hon. Justice Ngozi Opara”.
The Chief Judge of the State, Justice Benjamin Njemanze, had in his speech, described the retiring judge as “an erudite scholar”.
Continuing, Njemanze said the retiring Judge “ is an all-round jurist of no mean fit and an unrepentant advocate of the respect for the rule of law. His bravery on the High Court Bench showed that the judiciary can bite at an appropriate time.”
In his speech, the retiring judge observed that he may have stepped on some toes at the course of his service, but quickly asserted that he was willing to take full responsibility of his actions and speeches while in office.
Commenti