APC asks NJC to drop Justice Ndu, Wali from ethics committee

The All Progressives Congress,
APC, in Rivers has called on the
National Judicial Council, NJC, to
drop retired Justice Iche Ndu and
Okey Wali from its 10-person
Judicial Ethics Committee.
The APC Publicity Secretary,
Chris Finebone, made the call in
a statement in Port Harcourt on
Sunday.
Mr. Finebone said that the APC
noted with shock their recent
appointment as members of the
10-person Judicial Ethics
Committee with a mandate to
review the Code of Conduct for
Judicial Officers in the country.
Messrs. Ndu and Wali, he alleged,
were well-known Peoples
Democratic Party, PDP,
sympathisers, foot soldiers, close
associates and unarguable ardent
supporters of Governor Nyesom
Wike.
“The APC vehemently rejects
their inclusion in a critical
committee such as the Judicial
Ethics Committee of the NJC
charged with an all-important
task of reviewing the Code of
Conduct for judicial officers.
“Indeed, their inclusion
underscores the unwillingness
and unpreparedness of the NJC to
buy into the anti-corruption drive
of the President Muhammadu
Buhari’s administration.
“The APC views this action by the
NJC as the height of insensitivity
and brazen resistance to the
efforts by the government to
sanitise the Nigerian judiciary,”
he said.
Mr. Finebone said that the
Chairman of NJC and Chief
Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Mahmud
Mohammed, and the rest of the
council members could not feign
ignorance of the overt political
leanings of Messrs. Ndu and
Wali.
“We make bold to state that this obvious
display of indiscretion by the CJN and the NJC
smacks of inexplicable thoughtlessness,
befuddles the mind and sears through good
conscience,” he alleged.
He called on the NJC and Mr. Mohammed to
drop Messrs. Ndu and Wali from the NJC 10-
member Judicial Ethics Committee without
delay.
Mr. Finebone urged the NJC to do the needful
immediately or face a well-mobilised and
long-drawn protest by the APC which would
include occupying selected locations in Port
Harcourt and Abuja.
Retired Justice Ndu and Mr. Wali were former
Chief Judge of Rivers and President of the
Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, respectively.