Protest Rocks Abuja Over Benue Judiciary Crisis As Coalition Petitions NJC

Hundreds of Coalition of Civil Society Organisations members took to the streets in the nation’s capital, Abuja, yesterday to express their grievances over the crisis engulfing the Benue State judiciary.

The protest codenamed #SavetheNigerianJudiciaryRally was held around the Federal Secretariat Complex enroute National Assembly junction to the Aso Rock (Presidential) Villa gate during which the coalition submitted a petition to the National Judicial Council (NJC).

The protesters are seeking the intervention of President Bola Tinubu, Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekum and the NJC to save the Benue, vis-à-vis Nigerian judiciary from total collapse by the actions of judicial officers.

Addressing journalists, the convener of the Coalition of Civil Society Organisations in Nigeria, Igwe Ude-Umanta, alleged that the Benue State Chief Judge, Justice Maurice Ikpambese, flagrantly abused his office by flaunting the state laws, but NJC is quiet.

According to him, Ikpambese unilaterally granted a waiver to petitioners of the Local Government Election Tribunal not to pay the security deposit, a constitutional prerequisite for any valid petition, and he has not been sanctioned.

Ude-Umanta recalled that the chief judge violated the Electoral Laws of Benue State when he relocated the Local Government Elections Petition Tribunal to Abuja which is clearly off territorial jurisdiction.

“In an attempt to protect the constitution of Nigeria and the laws of Benue State, the Attorney General of Benue State approached the Federal High Court sitting in Makurdi which granted an order restraining the Tribunal from sitting anywhere outside Benue State including the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) house Abuja. This order was granted on the 7th of March 2025 to the admiration of Nigerians.

“Surprisingly, on Friday 14th March 2025, an FCT High Court 34 presided by Justice M.M Adamu frivolously issued another other compelling the Benue State Local Government Election Tribunal to conduct sitting in Abuja and particularly at the NBA house.

“The question is, can the Benue State laws be applied in the FCT or any other state other than Benue State? If the answer is NO, it is also clear that the Benue State Local Government Election Tribunal cannot sit outside Benue State.

“We are here today to submit a petition against Justice Maurice Ikpambese and Justice M. M Adamu, who, by their actions, have converted the title of justice to injustice,” he said.

The convener also raised alarm over a plot by some powerful Benue politicians based in Abuja to connive with some top police officers to arrest and detain protesters against the illegal relocation of the Benue State Local Government Election Tribunal to the nation’s capital.

He called on President Tinubu not to fold his arm as the judiciary is bastardised on a daily basis, stressing that the Benue situation is the worst at the moment because the petitioners did not even participate in any of the processes of the election.

“The petitioners ordinarily have no locus to approach the Tribunal because the Austin Agada-led APC executive was dissolved and a Caretaker Committee inaugurated before Justice Theresa Igoche’s order restraining the National Working Committee of the APC from dissolving the Benue State Executive was served.

“We demand the urgent intervention of Hon. Justice Kekere-skin, we demand the intervention of Mr President, and we demand that NJC call its members involved in the ongoing crisis to order in the interest of peace and justice in Benue State,” Ude-Umanta added.