Former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and the candidate of the Labour Party in the Edo 2024 election, Olumide Akpata has criticised the Governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki for swearing in only five out of eight judges appointed by the National Judicial Council (NJC) into the State High Court.

The governor recently sworn in five judges to the bench of Edo State High Court, and abandoned three of them.

But Akpata in a statement expressed his profound regrets that the three judges who are yet to be sworn in have endured grave injustice at the hands of the governor.

His words: “For nearly a year, these eight legal professionals languished in unconscionable career limbo, with those previously in private practice suffering immense financial hardship through loss of earnings as they could not practice law as private practitioners having been recommended for appointment to the Bench.

“To subject any human being or public servant, let alone prospective guardians of justice, to such indignities is unacceptable.

“And now, by swearing in only five out of the eight recommended Judges without any reason or explanation, Governor Obaseki has further rubbed salt on the injury, riding roughshod over another arm of government in clear violation of the principles of separation of powers and in the process, leaving the other three judges and their families in a precarious dilemma.”

He said the laughable defence proffered by the Edo State Commissioner of Information and Strategy that petitions existed against the recommended Judges is an outright falsehood that defies credulity.

“As a member of the NJC at the very time, it recommended these eight appointments, I can state categorically that all petitions were treated before the candidates were screened, and the successful candidates were the ones who were recommended for appointment to the Bench.

“It is a despicable act of calumny to besmirch the reputations of these innocent professionals merely to provide cover for the Governor’s dereliction of duty.

“The unvarnished truth is that Governor Obaseki’s refusal to swear in the eight recommended Judges for eleven months and his decision now, to swear in only five of the eight Judges, stem from his displeasure at the fact that the list did not include his preferred candidates.

“Rather than respecting the NJC’s recommendation, he chose to grind the appointment process to a complete halt through sheer obstructionism.

“It is no coincidence that this sudden decision by the Governor to swear in only five out of the eight recommended Judges, is coming five months before the Edo State gubernatorial elections,” he said.

The former NBA leader described the attitude as simply emblematic of the deceitful and self-serving politics that have become a hallmark of Governor Obaseki’s People Democratic Party (PDP) government, which puts partisan interests above the rule of law and the interests of the people.

According to him, such conduct strikes at the very heart of our democracy and the principle of separation of powers.

He maintained that it represents a contemptuous attempt to subjugate the Judiciary to the whims of the executive, stripping it of its independence and reducing it to a mere appendage of the governing party’s agenda.

This, he said, is precisely why he has been at the vanguard of the struggle for comprehensive judicial reforms to emancipate the judiciary from the suffocating grip of executive overreach at all levels of government.

He, therefore, called on the National Assembly (NASS) and the newly constituted Constitution Review Committees of both chambers of the NASS to immediately initiate constitutional amendments that will permanently insulate the judicial appointment process from such reckless political interference.

According to him, concrete safeguards must be established to forestall any recurrence of this “invidious travesty, not just in Edo State but across the entire Nigeria.”

Failing to do so, he said, risks inflicting irreparable damage to our democratic institutions and the fundamental rights of citizens.

Akpata congratulated the five newly sworn-in judges, urging them to embrace their new roles as beacons of justice, equality and the rule of law.

“Their integrity, impartiality, and commitment to upholding the Constitution of Nigeria will be the ultimate bulwark against the erosion of our cherished democratic principles and values,” he declared.