By Jonathan Ugbal The judiciary is the third arm of government in Nigeria and is often tagged “the last hope of the common man”. In Cross River, this last hope is threatened by decaying infrastructure across its 18 Local Government Areas. Cramped, hot, stuffy, unprotected and empty are some of the words that are used
On February 8, 2021, the Honourable Justice Akon Bassey Ikpeme, was sworn in as the substantive Chief Judge of Cross River State, in a colourful ceremony that was attended and watched live by many. It has been a tortuous journey, for My Lord in particular. How did it happen? On March 3, 2020, Governor Ben
By CrossRiverWatch Admin Details are emerging how Honorable Justice Akon Ikpeme, has walked the tight rope to her exalted office as the Chief Judge of Cross River state, 427 days since the retirement of Justice Michael Edem in November 2019. CrossRiverWatch gathered that there was intense horse trading to try to reassure the governor that
By CrossRiverWatch Admin 322 days after refusing to confirm her as the substantive Chief Judge of the High Court of Cross River State, the House of Assembly has confirmed the recommendation of Justice Akon Ikpeme. Hope Obeten, Press Secretary to the Speaker of the Assembly, Eteng Jones disclosed this on Facebook. Breaking: Hon. Justice Akon
By Jonathan Ugbal Information reaching our newsroom suggests that Justice Akon Ikpeme will soon be confirmed by the Cross River State House of Assembly. This follows her recommendation by the National Judicial Council (NJC) to Governor Ben Ayade who is reported to have preferred Justice Maurice Eneji, Ikpeme’s junior. The Calabar branch of the Nigerian
By CrossRiverWatch Admin The High Court of Cross River State would have gone 417 days without a substantive Chief Judge when Justice Effiom Eyo-Ita served out his tenure in acting capacity at midnight of January 18, 2021. This equates to 13 months or 60 weeks, over 10,000 hours, 600,000 minutes and about 36 million seconds.
Governor Ben Ayade who has refused to abide by the persistent recommendations of the National Judicial Council and swear in Justice Akon Ikpeme as Chief Judge of the state, hopes to rely on a Judicial process to advance his Political career as an affront on civilised society. To be fair, he is not hoping to
By Jonathan Ugbal The new legal year for the Cross River judiciary began on Monday without the usual pomp and pageantry. This is because there is a vacancy in the administrative court where the Chief Judge sits. The State has been without a Chief Judge for 20 days now due to differences between the Governor,