{"id":154440,"date":"2025-03-09T10:49:38","date_gmt":"2025-03-09T09:49:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/tussle-for-power-control-of-resources-behind-benue-judicial-crisis-onjeh"},"modified":"2025-03-09T10:49:38","modified_gmt":"2025-03-09T09:49:38","slug":"tussle-for-power-control-of-resources-behind-benue-judicial-crisis-onjeh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/parties\/tussle-for-power-control-of-resources-behind-benue-judicial-crisis-onjeh","title":{"rendered":"Tussle for power, control of resources behind Benue judicial crisis \u2013 Onjeh"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. <\/strong><\/span>A prominent All Progressives Congress, APC, chieftain in Benue State, Comrade Daniel Onjeh, has condemned the directive issued on 4th March 2025, by the Chief Judge of Benue State, Hon. Justice Maurice Ahemba Ikpambese, which relocated all Local Government Election Petition Tribunals and the Appeal Tribunal from Benue to the NBA House, Abuja.<\/p>\n<p>Onjeh in a statement made available on Sunday, described the move as \u201can aberration that raises serious legal and ethical questions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Onjeh, who was the APC 2023 Senatorial Candidate for Benue South, stated that the directive, which was purportedly based on security concerns and an ongoing judiciary staff strike, \u201cis yet another indication that the judicial crisis in Benue State is a direct consequence of the larger political power struggle that has engulfed the state since the inception of Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Iormem Alia\u2019s administration on 29th May 2023.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe legal maneuvering we are witnessing in Benue State is not about justice but about political power and the control of state resources,\u201d Onjeh declared.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe same forces that sought to subvert Governor Alia\u2019s administration from the onset have now turned to the judiciary as their latest weapon to achieve what they failed to accomplish politically,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>Onjeh, who is also former Chairman, Governing Board of the Projects Development Institute (PRODA), Enugu, noted that \u201cGovernor Alia has faced an unprecedented level of opposition from within his own party, with a faction of disgruntled APC leaders attempting to impose their will on the state.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTheir efforts to install their preferred Speaker of the Benue State House of Assembly were thwarted, and their subsequent attempts to manipulate the National Assembly into blocking federal allocations to Benue\u2019s local governments also failed. Now, he argues, they have resorted to using the state judiciary to regain lost political control,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>According to Onjeh, Justice Ikpambese\u2019s directive to relocate the Tribunal\u2019s sittings to Abuja raises significant legal concerns.<\/p>\n<p>He opined that the Chief Judge lacked the powers to unilaterally shift the venue of the Tribunal, adding that \u201cthe Benue State Election Laws 2007 (as amended), stipulates that the venue for the Tribunals can only be changed if all the parties to the petition consent to it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut in this case, the Chief Judge has neither sought nor secured the consent of the respondents to relocate the venue.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The former President of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) further argued that the Chief Judge\u2019s actions directly contradict previous rulings he issued in similar circumstances.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOnly a few months ago, in December 2024, His Lordship Justice Ikpambese rejected an application to relocate the Benue North East Election Petition Tribunal from Adikpo to Makurdi, on the ground that the applicant did not secure the consent of all the parties involved, despite security concerns raised by the respondents,\u201d Onjeh recalled.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe learned Chief Judge further dismissed the claims of insecurity in Adikpo, noting that the courts in Adikpo were still sitting at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYet today, he unilaterally shifts the Local Government Election Petition Tribunals to Abuja without consulting the parties involved or even the courtesy of notifying the Chief Security Officer of the state, Governor Alia.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThus, with due respect, I humbly wish to ask His Lordship, Justice Ikpambese, how many state governments are in Benue State, and which one is he loyal to? This reeks of inconsistency and bias.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith due respect to His Lordship, he is fully aware that he needed the consent of the respondents before relocating the venue, but deliberately refused to do so,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Onjeh maintained that both the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal were currently sitting in Benue State, which further invalidates the claim that the state is unsafe for the tribunals.<\/p>\n<p>He suggested that if security was truly an issue, the tribunals could have been relocated to one of the many military formations within Makurdi instead of being moved out of the state entirely, a decision that, in his view, undermines the principles of federalism.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNever, in the chequered history of Nigeria\u2019s democracy since independence in 1960, has a Local Government Election Petition Tribunal been shifted outside its state of jurisdiction.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJustice Ikpambese is trying to set a terrible precedent, and he must be stopped immediately,\u201d stated Onjeh, adding that, \u201cRelocating the Benue Local Government Election Petition Tribunal to Abuja is akin to relocating the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal to Ghana, or London. Isn\u2019t that utterly absurd?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Onjeh further questioned what he called Justice Ikpambese\u2019s controversial decision to grant a waiver on security deposits for petitioners challenging the outcome of the local government elections.<\/p>\n<p>He argued that this amounted to a unilateral amendment of the electoral laws enacted by the Benue State House of Assembly, which clearly stipulate that petitioners must pay a mandatory security deposit before their petitions can be entertained.<\/p>\n<p>Onjeh raised further concerns about the composition of the Appeal Panel, pointing out that respondents had previously submitted a petition challenging the appointment of the chairman of the Appeal Panel.<\/p>\n<p>Given that the Appeal Tribunal is the final arbiter in these cases, he warned that any indication of bias could have far-reaching consequences.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Nigeria<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. A prominent All Progressives Congress, APC, chieftain in Benue State, Comrade Daniel Onjeh, has condemned the directive issued on 4th March 2025, by the Chief Judge of Benue State, Hon. Justice Maurice Ahemba Ikpambese, which relocated all Local Government Election Petition Tribunals and the Appeal Tribunal from Benue to the NBA House, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":154439,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,16],"tags":[331,254,8916],"class_list":["post-154440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-parties","tag-benue","tag-nigeria","tag-onjeh"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Tussle for power, control of resources behind Benue judicial crisis \u2013 Onjeh - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/tussle-for-power-control-of-resources-behind-benue-judicial-crisis-onjeh\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tussle for power, control of resources behind Benue judicial crisis \u2013 Onjeh\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. A prominent All Progressives Congress, APC, chieftain in Benue State, Comrade Daniel Onjeh, has condemned the directive issued on 4th March 2025, by the Chief Judge of Benue State, Hon. Justice Maurice Ahemba Ikpambese, which relocated all Local Government Election Petition Tribunals and the Appeal Tribunal from Benue to the NBA House, [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/tussle-for-power-control-of-resources-behind-benue-judicial-crisis-onjeh\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-03-09T09:49:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/tussle-for-power-control-of-resources-behind-benue-judicial-crisis-onjeh#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/tussle-for-power-control-of-resources-behind-benue-judicial-crisis-onjeh\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Tussle for power, control of resources behind Benue judicial crisis \u2013 Onjeh\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-09T09:49:38+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/tussle-for-power-control-of-resources-behind-benue-judicial-crisis-onjeh\"},\"wordCount\":878,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/tussle-for-power-control-of-resources-behind-benue-judicial-crisis-onjeh#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/03\/sm_1741505619.226108.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Benue\",\"Nigeria\",\"Onjeh\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Parties\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/tussle-for-power-control-of-resources-behind-benue-judicial-crisis-onjeh#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/tussle-for-power-control-of-resources-behind-benue-judicial-crisis-onjeh\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/tussle-for-power-control-of-resources-behind-benue-judicial-crisis-onjeh\",\"name\":\"Tussle for power, control of resources behind Benue judicial crisis \u2013 Onjeh - 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