President of the National Vanguard for Rule of Law (NVRL), Comrade Johnson Babatunde,has hailed the Court of Appeal’s ruling, which, on Monday, struck out two appeals filed by 23 former Local Government Chairmen in Rivers State, loyal to former governor Nyesom Wike.
Comrade Babatunde, in a statement on Monday, commended the 3-man panel of the Port Harcourt Division of the appellate court for their courage and integrity in delivering a sound judgment, despite alleged attempts to induce them with money to pervert justice.
The group stated that the ruling has given Nigerians hope in the judiciary and has shown that the court remains the last hope of the common man.
“We commend the justices of the Portharcourt Division for once again delivering a sound judgment, upholding the rule of and giving Nigerians hope in the judiciary.
“We understand the enemies of Rivers State have been inducing judges with money to deliver black market judgments in their favour.
We believe that the Justices of the Portharcourt Division must have been tempted with all forms of inducement to pervert justice, but as men of courage and integrity, they have chosen to uphold the rule of law” Babatunde stated.
Meanwhile, the NVRL has appealed to Nigerians to support Judges who deliver sound judgments and urged the people of Rivers State to continue to support Governor Siminalayi Fubara in delivering dividends of democracy to the state.
The group encouraged the people to prepare for the forthcoming local government elections to replace those who sought to extend their tenure through illegal means.
The dismissed appeals had sought to extend the tenure of the ousted 23 council chairmen.
But the Court of Appeal found the appeals to be unmeritorious and incompetent.
The appeals, marked CA/PH/137M/2024 and CA/PH/145M/2024, were filed by Hon. Enyiada Cookey-Gam and six others, challenged the decisions of the lower court on the elongation of their council leadership tenure.
However, the Court of Appeal found the appeals to be without merit and consequently struck them out.
