Cross River Assembly reject nomination of Justice Ikpeme as Chief Judge because she is a ‘non-indigene’

The Cross River State House of Assembly has rejected the nomination of Justice Akon Ikpeme as substantive Chief Judge (CJ) of the state.

The nomination of Justice Ikpeme by the National Judicial Council (NJC) was rejected yesterday March 2, by the lawmakers on grounds of being from Akwa Ibom State even though she is married to Cross River man.

Prior to the rejection, it was alleged that Governor Ben Ayade had not been favourably disposed to the nomination. He reportedly inaugurated a separate State Judicial Service Commission (JSC) which nominated a junior judge, Justice Maurice Eneji to the National Judicial Council (NJC) as Acting Chief Judge.

However, the NJC who maintained its stand on seniority irrespective of where judges hail from, nominated Justice Ikpeme as presented by another JSC headed by then Chief Judge of the state, Justice Michael Edem as Acting Chief Judge in December 2019. She acted for three months.

However, during yesterday’s plenary, two opposing reports were presented for consideration. In one of the reports, Efah Esua who is chairman of the committee accepted Ikpeme’s nomination as substantive chief judge and recommended that the House gave the go-ahead. However, a parallel report presented by Godwin Akwaji (Obudu State constituency) and five others recommended Ikpeme’s rejection because she is not from Cross River State.

The reports led to heated debates in the house before Ikpeme’s nomination was ultimately rejected by the whole house through a voice vote.