NJC to report Benue's attorney-general for allegedly plotting Chief Judge's removal

The National Judicial Council (NJC) has resolved to report the Benue State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Fidelis Mnyim, to the Legal Practitioners’ Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) for his alleged involvement in a plot for the undue removal of the Chief Judge of the state, Maurice Ikpambese.

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NJC’s Deputy Director of Information, Kemi Babalola-Ogedengbe, disclosed this in a statement on Thursday.

The statement said the NJC took the decision among several other resolutions at its 109th meeting held in Abuja on Wednesday. The meeting was presided over by the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) and the chairperson of the NJC, Kudirat Kekere-Ekun.

“Council was particularly concerned about the role of the Attorney-General of the State, Fidelis Bemsen Mnyim, Esq., in the scheme to remove the Chief Judge and resolved to report him to the Legal Practitioners’ Disciplinary Committee (LPDC) for necessary action,” the statement read in part.

The NJC explained that Mr Mnyim wrote one of the three petitions sent seeking the removal of the chief judge. The other petitioners were Guana Joseph and Terhemen Ngbea, the statement said.

After deliberations on the report of the investigation committee on the petitions, the council said it absolved Mr Ikpambese “from any judicial wrongdoings” and found Mr Mnyim’s petitions to be unmeritorious.

The council noted that the three petitions were nothing but a ploy to remove the chief judge from his position.

“All the petitions presented against him were with sole aim to remove him from his position,” the NJC wrote.

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The LPDC to which the NJC resolved to report Mr Mnyim, is a statutory body that conducts disciplinary proceedings against lawyers called to the Nigerian bar.

The body has the power to disbar any lawyer found culpable of professional misconduct at the end of its hearing. But its decision is not final. An aggrieved lawyer sanctioned by the LPDC can appeal against the decision at the Supreme Court.

Mr Mnyim is no stranger to missteps since becoming the Benue State attorney general.

In October last year, Governor Hyacinth Alia suspended him for joining, on behalf of the state, a long shot suit challenging the legality of Nigeria’s anti-corruption agencies at the Supreme Court without prior authorisation from the governor’s office.

Benue Chief Judge Ikpambese

Mr Ikpambese, who was appointed Chief Judge of Benue State in March 2023, roughly two months before the coming on board of the Governor Hyacinth Alia administration in May 2023, has been at the centre of various allegations.

In February, the Benue State Government recommended his removal on the grounds of alleged ethical violations of codes of conduct as a judicial officer.

The allegations levelled against Mr Ikpambese include abuse of office, financial misconduct, bribery and favouritism, political interference, and industrial incitement against Benue State’s executive arm.

An additional allegation emerged in April from the Nigeria Legal Aid, which accused Mr Ikpambese of attempting to halt an appeal filed by the All Progressive Congress (APC) Benjamin Omale-led Unity Caretaker Committee.

This move, they suggested, was intended to grant the Austin Agada-led APC faction further control over the nine local governments that the Local Government Elections Petition Tribunal had ruled in their favour.

The group further alleged that he approved sick leaves for two registrars responsible for receiving the appeal.

However, the move to remove the Chief Judge from office, apparently with the blessing of both the executive and legislative arms of government in the state, was rebuked by the NJC and the legal community in the country for sidestepping constitutional procedure.

In February this year, the NJC overruled the purported recommendation of the state House of Assembly for the removal of Mr Ikpambese from office.

“Unfortunate as this development is, Council wishes to reiterate that there are clear and unambiguous provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, as amended, on discipline and appointment of Judicial Officers, vested in the Council, which are not adhered to in the instant case,” a statement by the NJC read.

The NJC said, although it eventually received a petition against the Chief Judge, “that petition is yet to be investigated in line with Council’s Investigation Procedure and the principle of fair hearing.”

“As far as Council is therefore concerned, until the complaint is investigated and deliberated upon by it, Hon. Justice Maurice Ikpambese remains the Chief Judge of Benue State.”

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) also urged the NJC to sanction any judge of the Benue State High Court that accepted to be made the acting Chief Judge of the state.

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The body of Nigerian lawyers, in a statement co-signed by its president, Afam Osigwe, and general secretary, Mobolaji Ojibara, maintained that Sections 153 and 271 of the Nigerian constitution established the NJC as the body responsible for recommending the appointment and removal of state Chief Judges.

“The Constitution gives the NJC the exclusive power of exercising disciplinary control over judicial officers, by ensuring that any allegation of misconduct is thoroughly investigated and decided to maintain the integrity and independence of the judiciary,” the NBA stated.

It added, “By purporting to have the power to consider allegations of financial impropriety and abuse of office against the Chief Judge as well as recommending his removal, the Benue State House of Assembly exhibited crass knowledge of the provisions of the Constitution in that regard and clearly evinced an intention to trample on the Constitutional guardrails against such bad behaviour.”