APC Chieftain Frowns at CJN Alleged Frolics with Wike
Blessing Ibunge in Port Harcourt
A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, Eze Chukwuemeka, has frown at the alleged frolicking between the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Kayode Ariwoola, the state Governor, Nyesom Wike, and his G-5 team members.
In a statement issued yesterday by the APC stalwart, he alleged that the CJN may soon be submerged in the waters of politics.
Chukwuemeka said for the CJN to allegedly declare support for a partisan group, it has put the integrity of the judiciary to question.
According to Chukwuemeka, “The CJN was caught in an inescapable web of partisan engagement in Port Harcourt, on November 24, 2022, during a dinner organised in his honor by the Rivers State Governor, Wike, alongside the other Governors in his circle, including Seyi Makinde of Oyo State from where the CJN hails.
“Speaking at the ceremony, Justice Ariwoola openly identified with Governor Wike and threw his weight behind his onslaught against the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its National Chairman, Atiku Abubakar and Iyorchia Ayu respectively.
“The CJN went further to express delight that his home-state Governor, Seyi Makinde, was part of the revolt against the PDP and Atiku.”
The APC chieftain, who explained that the CJN, during a dinner in his honour in Rivers State, made some statement allegedly exposing his close relationship with the G-5 governors, said: “The words of the CJN represents an apparent affirmation of the inappropriate overture of Governor Wike to the head of the judicial arm.”
Chukwuemeka alleged that Justice Ariwoola seems to have become more political than politicians, and “his public declaration of support for Governor Wike justifies the weighty allegations of bias from different quarters to the extent that the judiciary is compromised, especially in Rivers State, where some Judges have continued to dish out very controversial judgments against the state APC and its candidates in matters brought against it by the PDP in the state.
“Many citizens had jumped for joy when they learnt the CJN was visiting the state, expecting he was to scold at the Judges in
Rivers State for apparently dishing out judgments like supermarket products. Instead, the opposite seemed to happen.
“The said judgments, which clearly contradicts every known legal precedents and controvert extant laws on the subjects apparently given in exchange for bags of money stolen from public coffers are given in a bid to help deliver Wike’s handpicked gubernatorial candidate of the PDP.”
The APC chieftain regretted that the “CJN would ignore the tradition of doing background checks on any person inviting him for a public show. A little background check would have revealed to the CJN that while Wike pumps billions to Judges and judicial projects, he dishes out Executive Orders that shut down democracy and liberty in a part of Nigeria.”
