Guardian

COMMUNITY leader and rights activist, Madam Rita-Lori Ogbebor, has warned that anarchy looms in the Delta State judiciary which if not quickly checkmated may lead to a break down of law and order in some areas.

Ogbebor who based her fear on the increasing cases of kidnapping of judges in the state noted that the situation has degenerated to a worrisome level where they are now in hiding and afraid of going to courts.

Addressing journalists at a press conference in Lagos yesterday, she cited the recent kidnapping of Justice Marcel Okoh and the failed abduction of Justice Marshal Mukoro. According to her, it took over two weeks before Okoh was released and not until after the state branch of the Nigerian Bar Association had staged a protest.

To accord the alarm the seriousness it deserves, the Itsekiri-born rights activist said she sent petitions to the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, and Chief Justice Alooma Murktah.

The woman leader said a situation where judges could not sit for fear of being kidnapped would make administration of justice difficult if not impossible, and could make litigants as well as aggrieved persons to resort to self-help.

She urged the National Judicial Council to intervene in the Delta State case.        The activist said the two judges’ ordeals were also worrisome as they were handling matters in which the state government was the defendant.

For instance, she said Okoh was handling a suit in which some Itsekiri people were challenging the government over alleged illegal acquisition of their land in Okere. She claimed that Okoh was on the way to court to rule on an interim injunction sought by the Itsekiri when he was kidnapped.

She further claimed that as soon as the judge was kidnapped, the state government rushed to begin building on the land in dispute.

Ogbebor said her fear was accentuated when Mukoro, the judge who took over the land matter, only recently survived an attempted kidnapping, after several gunshots.

The same Justice Mukoro is handling a suit in which the Itsekiri are challenging the government on the management of funds meant for oil producing areas in the state.

Mukoro, as the administrative judge, took over the N1billion suit from Justice Azinge, who after surviving a kidnap attempt, went into hiding and withdrew from the case.

The woman leader is now expressing fear whether the judge would be able to muster enough courage to continue with the two suits which come up tomorrow and January 17, 2013.