The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Mariam Aloma-Mukhtar stepped down the swearing-in Justice Ifeoma Jombo-Ofo as a Justice of the Court of Appeal, yesterday and explained that there was a petition against her regarding her state of origin.

Ifeoma is by birth from Anambra and married to a man from Abia state.

A list of 12 Justices was initially released by the Supreme Court for the swearing ceremony with the inclusion of Justice Ifeoma Jombo-Ofo’s name.

The irony was that Ifeoma, who was called to bar in 1979, got married to Mr Jombo-Ofo and was thereafter appointed a High Court judge on November 4, 1998 as representing Abia state after she had served for many years in her husband’s state.

The announcement of her elevation to the appeal court alongside eleven others drew the ire of some indigenes of Abia state.

A source close to the apex court indicated that a petition was forwarded to the CJN alleging that Justice Jombo-Ofo did not disclose the real fact of her state of origin.

The petitioner claimed that originally she is from Anambra state and subsequently transferred her service from her home state to her husband’s state of Abia.

Not even a spirited effort by Abia state governor, Theodore Orji, could save the day for Justice Jumbo-Ofo. The governor had written a letter to the Chief Justice of Nigeria last Saturday confirming the indigeneship of Justice Jumbo-Ofo who had served in the Abia state Judiciary for the last 14 years and also affirmed that her name was indeed sent by the state government as one of the state’s candidates for elevation to the appellate court.

Governor Orji urged the CJN to disregard any spurious petition or allegation against her and swear her in.

But an Abuja based legal practitioner who did not want to be mentioned in the print said that Justice Mary Odili was elevated to the Supreme Court on the ticket of her State of birth Imo.

He added that the Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Nweala, who is a native of Delta State, was appointed a minister on her husband’s state ticket, Abia.

THE Senate yesterday waded into the controversy surrounding the refusal of Chief Justice Maryam Aloma-Mukhtar to administer the oath of office on Mrs. Ifeoma Jombo-Ofo, and urged the head of the nation’s judiciary to swear her in as a Justice of the Court of Appeal without further delay.

During the debate on a motion moved by the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu and 107 others, the President of the upper legislative chamber, David Mark, described the decision of the CJN as unfortunate and posing a great implication on the sanctity of.

His words: “The implication of this is that if there is anything good in the husband’s place and we say that the wife should not take it, I think is just unfortunate but more importantly, the sanctity of marriage would be destroyed by this act if we allow it and I believe that we ought to encourage professional women to maintain their professions and keep their marriages at the same time. This is going to provide for them to choose between their professions and their marriages and that will not encourage marriage life in this country.”

According to Senator Mark, the appointment of Justice Jombo-Ofo followed due process. He maintained that if there were reasons against the appointment, they ought to have been addressed before the swearing-in, which was a mere ceremony.

“The whole thing to me is fait accomplish because they have gone through the entire process. There was nothing left again. Swearing-in was just a ceremony and if the issues were not raised before but just at the point of swearing-in, either to appease those who have petitioned or because she was not from her husband’s place of origin, it was immaterial,” he remarked.

“She ought to have been sworn in. I think the judiciary or the CJN is crying more than the bereaved because Abia State is not complaining. They submitted her name and the Governor was there. Why should anybody else say she is taking Abia State slot because that is what it meant in effect, if she was not sworn in.”

Mark, however, assured that the Chambers would do all within its power to ensure that the mistake is corrected.

“We should do whatever we can to ensure that the woman is sworn in and to encourage women to continue to remain married and continue to claim their husbands’ place of origin. This will also make us think twice about the issue of indigeneship and place of residence. If you are resident in a place, why can’t you take appointment there? But particularly on this issue, I think it was a mistake and it should be corrected,” he said.

Justice Jombo-Ofo, until her appointment to the Court of Appeal, was the Chief Judge of Abia State. Having gone through all due processes for the appointment, she was denied the judicial oath on Monday, November 5 by the CJN.

Ekweremadu, in the lead debate, was worried that the same CJN, who is the chairman of the National Judicial Council (NJC) and presided over the clearance of Justice Jombo-Ofo, refused to administer judicial oath on her on the ground that she is not from Abia even though it is the state of origin of her husband. Moreover, there was no record of any objection to her appointment by her husband as well as Abia State government or judiciary.

According to the Senate, “the practical implication of the decision of the Chief Justice of Nigeria is that Nigerian women have lost all they have struggled for over the years and Nigeria will be taken back 100 years.”

Senate leader, Victor Ndoma-Egba, recalled instances where Kalu Anya from the South East once served as Chief Judge while non-indigenes served as Attorney General and Secretary to the Government of Borno State.

Noting that the issue came at a time when a woman was at the pinnacle of the country’s judicial ladder, the lawmaker said the development does not augur well for women.

Citing Section 238(2) of the Constitution, Ndoma-Egba emphasized that the CJN has no power to refuse judicial oath on a Justice that has been appointed by the President on the NJC’s recommendation.

“Section 238(2) of the constitution stipulated that the appointment of a person to the office of Justice of the Court of Appeal is done by the President on the recommendations of the National Judicial Council. It is a process and at both levels of the process, the Chief Justice of Nigeria is the chairman. So, whatever issue they had, ought to have been sorted out. The moment the President appoints based on the recommendation of NJC, it is authentic and there is no role for the Chief Justice of Nigeria after the appointment,” he stated.

The Senator warned that denying Justice Jombo-Ofo judicial oath would encourage mediocrity and amounts to NJC limiting itself to choices available to it.

He added: “It will continue to promote mediocrity because capable hands would be limited. The implication would be negative. The other implication is on the sanctity of marriage. I believe that in every religion, marriage is sacred. The family is sacred. Now, if we say because of marriage, a woman cannot rise to the limits of her endowment, it means that for carrier-minded women, we are putting them in a difficult situation of choosing between carrier and marriage. The Senate should resolve that Justice Jombo-Ofo be sworn in and her seniority be restored.”

Meanwhile, on an earlier communication by President Goodluck Jonathan, seeking, approval and inclusion of the Pipeline Projects into the Medium Term (2012-2014) External Borrowing Plan, the Senate referred the matter to the Committees of Local and Foriegn Desk as well as Finance for consideration.

CJN bows to pressure, agrees to swear-in Jombo-Offor

ABUJA- The National Judicial Council, NJC, after an emergency meeting held in Abuja Wednesday, persuaded the Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Justice Mariam Aloma Muhktar, to rescind her earlier decision and swear-in Justice Ifeoma Jumbo-Ofo into the Appeal Court Bench.

The council which has eminent judicial egg-heads in the country, including former CJNs and ex-Presidents of the Court of Appeal and Nigerian Bar Association as members, regretted that the issue “has generated so much controversy in Nigeria, especially in the print and electronic media.”

The CJN had on November 5, declined to swear-in Justice Jombo-Ofo alongside eleven other newly appointed Justices of the Appeal Court, following a petition challenging the state of origin declared by the judge who was nominated under a slot reserved for Abia State.

Investigations by Vanguard had revealed that the CJN decided to step-down her swearing-in following agitation from some quarters that going by the prevailing judicial policy in the country; she was not qualified to represent Abia state on the appellate court bench.