A Chief Magistrate in the Rivers State Judiciary, Ejike George, has resigned from service.
George’s resignation is in consequence of the appointment of a Sole Administrator to direct the state’s affairs.
In his resignation letter addressed to the Honourable Chief Judge of Rivers State through the Secretary of the Rivers State Judicial Service Commission, the judge said he was in the service for sixteen years and found the appointment of Vice Admiral Ibok-Etteh Ibas to preside over the state “alien” and “antithetical” to the values of the legal profession.
He also described the prevailing type of government in the state as “quasi-military administration.”
The letter titled: ‘Voluntary Retirement From Service’, reads in part: “This present is intended to convey my decision to voluntarily retire my appointment as Magistrate of the Judiciary of Rivers State.
“This difficult and regrettable decision is informed largely by my discomfort with the recent appointment of a quasi-military administration to run the affairs of a modern state like ours.
“Milord will agree with me that this type of governance system is not only alien but also runs antithetical to our hallowed profession as legal practitioners and adjudicators.
“Having put in a whopping 16 (sixteen) out of my 22 (twenty-two) years of legal practice into this Judiciary as Magistrate under successive democratic administrations, I find it difficult to work with the current setting, as doing so would amount to a tacit and naive acquiescence.
“Thanks Milord, for the opportunity to serve.”
