Edo State Governor, Senator Monday Okpebholo, has described his predecessor Godwin Obaseki\u2019s refusal to swear in three judges recommended by the National Judicial Council (NJC), in 2023 as a \u201cslap on the judiciary.\u201d<\/p>\n
Okpebholo spoke on Thursday while receiving the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Benin Branch, and the Local Organising Committee for the upcoming NBA National Executive Committee meeting at the Government House, Benin City.<\/p>\n
Obaseki had sworn in five of the eight judges in May 2024, leaving three, Ojo Osa, Okundamiya Jeff, and Edoghogho Eboigbe – unsworn.<\/p>\n
Upon assuming office in November 2024, Okpebholo fulfilled his pledge by swearing in the remaining judges on December 2, 2024.<\/p>\n
The governor called the previous administration\u2019s action a \u201cgrave injustice\u201d and reiterated his commitment to judicial independence, rule of law, and effective justice delivery.<\/p>\n
\u201cJustice delayed is justice denied,\u201d he said, adding that his administration investigated the matter and found no reason for the delay.<\/p>\n
Okpebholo also pledged support for the NBA, including providing operational vehicles to aid statewide engagements.<\/p>\n
NBA Benin Branch Chairman, Barr. Idemudia Osifo, commended the governor for restoring sidelined judges and the Customary Court of Appeal and announced a Land Administration Seminar for November 5, 2025, to review land policies.<\/p>\n
Deputy Governor Dennis Idahosa and other top officials attended the meeting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Edo State Governor, Senator Monday Okpebholo, has described his predecessor Godwin Obaseki\u2019s refusal to swear in three judges recommended by the National Judicial Council (NJC), in 2023 as a \u201cslap on the judiciary.\u201d Okpebholo spoke on Thursday while receiving the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Benin Branch, and the Local Organising Committee for the upcoming NBA […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":77280,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1386,186],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-judiciary","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77279"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77279\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77281,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77279\/revisions\/77281"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}