There are indications that the Chief Judge (CJ) of Delta State will be among six other CJs of state High Courts to appear before the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Ibrahim Muhammad, over the menace of conflicting court orders in recent times.
The CJN had last week Monday summoned the CJs of Rivers, Kebbi, Cross Rivers, Anambra, Jigawa and Imo States to explain the rationale behind the indiscriminate issuance of exparte orders by judges in their various states.
The injunctive orders were mainly against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the planned November 6 governorship election in Anambra State and the leadership of both the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The said restraining orders, upon exparte application by litigants, have been observed as a threat to the nation’s democracy.
Worried and disappointed by the development, the CJN had invited the CJs of Anambra, Imo and Jigawa to explain the roles of their courts in the Anambra governorship poll, while their counterparts in Rivers, Cross River and Kebbi are to do same in respect of the cases of the PDP Chairman, Chief Uche Secondus.
However, barely a few days after the CJN voiced out his disappointment that judges ought to be circumspect in their granting of injunctions, particularly in political matters, another High Court sitting in Asaba, Delta State on Wednesday, still acting upon an exparte application, ordered Governor Mai Buni to stop parading himself as the Chairman of the APC Caretaker Committee.
Information reaching THISDAY is that the seven CJs will appear before Justice Muhammad as a prelude to the plenary of the National Judicial Council (NJC), which is also chaired by Justice Muhammad on Monday, September 6, 2021.
It was also learnt that the CJN has already demanded for the records of proceedings in all the suits from which conflicting exparte orders emanated.
The action of the CJN is aimed at nipping the development, which is fast bringing shame and disrespect to the country’s judiciary and Nigeria by extension, in the bud.
A possible meeting with the leadership of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has also been hinted of, same Monday over the conflicting court orders.
The National President of the NBA, Mr Olumide Apkata, had last Monday in a statement, registered the body’s displeasure over the development.
Apkata also promised to work with the CJN to find a lasting solution to the problem.
