Rivers Assembly Amends High Court Law

The Rivers State House of Assembly has passed into law, the State High Court (Amendment) Law 2014, which amended the Section 40 of the Principal Law of 2001.

Section 40 of the Principal Law, which was passed by the fifth Legislative Assembly, was amended by the addition of a new sub-section 2, to read: “Where the office of the Chief Judge is vacant and it is impracticable to appoint an acting Chief Judge, or a Chief Judge, the Chief Registrar shall assign cases to any judge and perform other administrative duties until an acting Chief Judge of a Chief Judge is appointed”.

The event took place at the Old Government House, Port Harcourt, barely two hours after a public hearing on the bill was organised by the House Committee on Judiciary.

It was a unanimous decision, as the 17 lawmakers present, excluding the Deputy Speaker, Leyii Kwanee, who presided over the session, voted for the amendment.

The Deputy Speaker thanked his colleagues for the sacrifice they made in the passage of the bill, pointing out that no amount of sacrifice would be sufficient to ensure the peace and progress of the state.

“I want to thank my colleagues for your support and sacrifice in the quick passage of the bill. I want to assure you that no amount of sacrifice is too much to pay. It is for the peace and progress of this state that we took the decision. All of our constituents are suffering and the judiciary has to function.”

He directed Clerk of the House to deliver a copy of their resolution to the State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, for his assent, saying that, even if it would require them to sit at midnight, to ensure that the judiciary returned to work soonest, the House of Assembly was ready.

Earlier, at the public hearing, Kwanee reiterated that no amount of intimidation and harassment would stop the lawmakers from carrying out their legislative functions.

He added that the Assembly had the responsibility to make laws and, also, ensure that there was stability in the polity.

Chairman of the Committee and sponsor of the Bill, Golden Chioma, representing Etche Constituency II, said that the essence of the bill was to ensure that there was not vacancy in the judiciary.

He stated that the amendment would remove some lacuna found in the Principal Law.

Governor Chibuike Amaechi has also signed signed the amended bill into law. He did that in Government House at about 7 p.m. Wednesday.