Lawyers’ Group Calls On Appeal Court President Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem to Stop PJ Appeal Court Abuja Justice Barka Plot To Sit Today Over A Matter That Is Before A Special Panel
Lawyers In Defence Of Democracy, has called on the President of Appeal Court, Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem to stop the Presiding Judge of Appeal Court, Abuja, Justice Hamma Barka’s plot to sit today over a matter that is before a special panel, looking into the political cases from Rivers State.
The group of lawyers in a statement signed by Okere Kingdom wondered while Justice curiously wanted to sit over the matter after
President of Appeal Court, Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem raised a panel to entertain the legal tussles.
According to them, there has been escalating legal tussles as a result of the face-off between Rivers State Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his predecessor, who is the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike.
They noted that the crisis fueled by Wike antics culminated into an upsurge of legal acrobatics from Rivers that created factions among political actors which resulted in conflicting judgments from courts of the same jurisdictions, putting the judiciary into public opprobrium.
“In a bid to streamline the resolution of these disputes, the Court of Appeal President Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem constituted a special panel to oversee all appeals related to the political crisis in Rivers.
“The panel, headed by Justice Onyekachi Otisi which has Justices Misitura Bokaji-Yusuf and James Abundaga, is saddled with the responsibility to tackle these cases that involved key political actors and factions in Rivers State.
“We are aware that the special panel was set up to hear the Appeal on the case by the pro-Wike group to seize Rivers allocation, the sack lawmakers and allegations of bias against Justice Barka, an acolyte of the Minister of FCT who has been instrumental to his judicial rascality in issues involving Rivers State.
“The President of Appeal Court, Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem, a respected jurist has her reputation at stake if she allows Justice Barka, her supposed subordinate to torpedo the integrity she has built over the years.
“We as Lawyers In Defence Of Democracy are worried by this ugly trend and called on the President of Appeal Court, Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem to rise up to the defence of herself, the integrity of the judiciary and Nigerian democracy by calling Barka to order.
“In a nutshell, she should stop the Justice Hamma Barka’s plot to sit today over a matter that is before the special panel she set up and recommend him for sanctions for attempted insubordination and rape of the judiciary, the last hope of a common man