A former Chairman of the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) and Publicity Secretary of the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP), Chief Peter Ameh, has faulted the judiciary over its handling of the political crisis in Rivers State, accusing the Supreme Court of deliberately refusing to hear the case on the suspension of Governor Siminalayi Fubara.
In an interview with SYMFONI, Ameh queried the legal basis on which Fubara was removed from office for six months following the declaration of a state of emergency, describing the development as “a clear case of judicial compromise.”
“Where do you take a man from fourth position to number one? Which law or document did you see that permitted that? I don’t get it. When it was in the interest of Wike, the Supreme Court was quick to take cases. But when it came to Fubara, the court deliberately looked away for 162 days,” he alleged.
Ameh accused the apex court of shielding the President’s decision from scrutiny, insisting that the refusal to hear the matter was a strategy to avoid faulting the declaration of emergency.
“They know that if the case was heard, there’s no way the President’s decision would not have been faulted. So, they allowed illegality to persist. Who will call the Supreme Court to order if not the people?” he asked.
The CUPP spokesman also raised concerns about corruption in the judiciary, citing instances where politicians allegedly influenced judgments through financial inducements or personal connections. He recalled a serving senator admitting that colleagues once approached him because his wife presided over the Court of Appeal.
“No country succeeds with a biased and weak judiciary. Even America is denying visas to some Nigerian judges over corruption. Investors are also losing confidence. A businessman told me he won four cases in Ghana but lost a 90 percent clear case in Nigeria. How then do you expect such people to invest here?” Ameh stated.
He maintained that the judiciary’s image crisis has far-reaching economic and political consequences, stressing that perception has become reality for both citizens and foreign investors.
“Our judiciary is now driven by nepotism, tribalism, and corruption. The former Chief Justice of Nigeria openly shared appointments among family members. If we don’t clean up the system, it will consume all of us,” he warned.
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