By Agatha Emeadi
Former Attorney General and two-time Commissioner for Justice in Imo State, Soronnadi Njoku (SAN) is a seasoned legal practitioner.
In this interview with Sunday Sun, Njoku who could be described as a reporter’s delight condemned outrightly the suspension of Governor Siminalaye Fubara of Rivers State, arguing that the action is contrary to the constitution.
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Among other issues, he talked about Imo Harmony Project and Imo politics. Excerpt:
As a former Attorney General of Imo State, you are aware of the controversy raised by a civil society group that about 18 judges in Imo State falsified their ages; how do you see this situation?
First of all, let me say that the entire issue is an embarrassing aberration to the entire justice delivery system. A lot of embarrassing things are unfolding in the whole scenario and more embarrassing to all of us in the Imo State Justice delivery system. At least the National Judicial Council (NJC) has set up a committee to investigate the allegations even though the issue is before them; one must also be careful not to make statement that will prejudice their assignment, findings and recommendation. One of the embarrassing developments in the entire scenario is that a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) that is not registered has to inflict this kind of embarrassment to the judicial structure in Imo State. Again, that the purported owner and author of that petition allegedly happened to be the husband of the secretary to Imo State Judicial Service Commission. Therefore, one begins to wonder whether it is worth their pension that is receiving. In our legal profession, the locus of a person or a party to institute any proceedings is of ethical importance. It is a threshold issue which will be determined as a preliminary issue. So, if an unregistered NGO which allegedly belonging to the husband of the Secretary of Imo State Judicial Service Commission, I do not know why it should be taken seriously in the first instance. Then secondly, it is subjudice in the sense that it is before a panel, therefore, one is absolutely careful so as not to prejudice the work of the panel. Then again, if at the end of the day, this ends up being a ruse, how would the Imo State judiciary be? It is totally embarrassing. I am not in any way justifying anybody who falsifies his or her age, that is very wrong; but things must be done properly. One wonders how tidy is it to look like an insider job within the Imo State Judicial Service Commission. So, what is the purpose of this entire exercise? I hope these questions will be resolved by the panel that is investigating it because all of us are patiently waiting for the outcome of the panel’s exercise.
Also, as a member of Imo State Judicial Service Commission, by virtue of being an Attorney General, so how are judges appointed? The situation seems not to be what it used to be?
Well, incidentally, the appointment of judges is statutory. It begins with the judiciary; in fact, it could even be the Attorney General writing to the governor of the state, explaining to him of the need to appoint more judges. Then, the Judicial Service Commission which the Attorney General is a member also gets the concurrence of the governor to start the exercise. As soon as the governor approves that the exercise will commence, then the necessary internal and external publications are made, asking the legal community and bar association, informing them that the appointment of judges is on. People who are qualified can now indicate their interest. Then the Judicial Service Commission would produce a shortlist, which would be circulated within the legal profession and judiciary for comments and all that. That would be the first cast. Followed by a second shortlist, which would be produced. Therefore, based on the input gotten from these relevant bodies of agencies, especially from the Chief Judges of the courts in Nigeria; the presidents and Justice of Court of Appeal, Supreme Court, Chief Justice of Nigeria and Justice of the Supreme Court; then depending on what their imputs are, the second shortlist is made. That second shortlist must be at least two times more than the number of judges that are appointed. In other words, if five judges must be appointed, that shortlist must be made up of at least 10 nominees. These 10 nominees must go through the security screening, then they are forwarded to the National Judicial Council that conducts the interview and recommend those that will be appointed. That is the usual process.
Back to your home as a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), looking at the infrastructural development in the state, especially your local government area, Ngor-Okpala, where the customary court no longer sits because of insecurity, what is your take on this?
It is quite embarrassing that the road infrastructural decay in Ngor-Okpala is so noticeable. I had cause recently to go to the local government headquarters, I can assure you that it is a nightmare, going from Ihite Junction to the local government. I know as a fact that when the rain begins, that scenario would be far worse than what it is today. I am encouraged by the preliminary step that the present executive chairman of the local government is taking. At least Ihite-Umukabi-Umuneke road has improved such that it is now reasonably comfortable for people to go from Owerri through Umukabi to Umuneke. At a point, it was impossible for the court to sit there because it was dreadful for vehicles to pass through those roads, but they are improving now. That is why we have been clamouring for an effective self-funding and self-accounting local government system to be allowed to thrive. The local government system ought to be the effective and efficacious third tier of government. This means that they must be empowered and funded to be able to do the job that the constitution assigned to them which is primarily the development of the rural areas. Everybody has seen a change since the new team came into power. We now see life coming back to the local government secretariat. So, I want to encourage the government, both state and federal to allow the local government to function and fund them well, so that the executive chairmen would be able to justify the mandate given to them by the people. Secondly, talking about insecurity, it is heart-rendering that when Imo State had serious security challenge, Ngor-Okpala was very peaceful. Now that the security report in Imo State is improving remarkably, Ngor-Okpala unfortunately is now the theatre of security breaches. I would like the Federal Government to check if there are some deliberate efforts to infiltrate that local government and cause this ill of insecurity. Do not forget that Ngor-Okpala is critical in Imo State. It is the only direct gateway into and out of Imo State. The airport is located in Ngor-Okpala and if this security challenges especially along the Aba-Owerri Road is not arrested as quickly as possible, sooner than later, it will affect traffic into and out of the Imo airport.
At the National Assembly level, will you say they have ratified the suspension of Governor Sim Fubara? Do you think the National Assembly has done well in that regard?
I unequivocally believe that our constitution does not in any form or shape provide for, approve, accept or tolerate the suspension of any elected person. Be him the president, vice president, governor, deputy governor, the senator, the member of House of Representatives or House of Assembly. In line with this, therefore, with due respect again to the fact that this matter is in court, it is my personal view that the suspension of an elected Governor Sim Fubara or whoever is contrary to our constitution. I am confident that at the end of the day, the superior court of this land will come to the conclusion that the moment the person is elected, no other person elected or otherwise can suspend him.
How would you assess the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led government, bearing in mind the present economic predicament?
Well, something happened in my law firm recently, so I called my staff which is less than 15 people. We are eight lawyers and four other supporting staff and I told them, ‘do you see the difficulty in governing a small law firm like ours. Then imagine the difficulty of governing a state or the federation called Nigeria.’ I have been in government at both state and federal levels. No one comes into government without a conviction about his own approach to improving the lots of the people, developing and taking the country to the next level. Everybody who comes into office comes with a vision of improving the situation. So, I believe that President Tinubu stepped into office with his own vision of making things better for Nigeria. Such like improving our economy, security, education, health care system etc. He who wears the shoes knows where it pinches. I cannot tell from the comfort of my law firm that the president is not doing well. I cannot say that because as much as I want the rate of the dollar to fall to an appreciable level, I do not know the factors that has prevented him and his team not to achieve that. Therefore, I cannot condemn them. All that I need say is that because we are the people being governed, we have expectation of our government. We have also created our government in our own image, which means our government should do everything possible to meet our expectations as much as it is possible. For instance, I believe there is still room to lower prices of petroleum products, electricity, telecommunication services etc. I do not think that the only solution to our problem in Nigeria is to increase in the price of fuel, electricity, telecommunication services. Has anyone wondered how the people who are making the consequences and effect of the increase are faring. Has anyone bothered to know if their income is rising proportionately to the increase in all of these? I believe that somehow, some balance must be struck between the government’s need to meet the expectations of the people and also in realizing the fact that these people need to be alive to bear the costs of this somewhere. Therefore, I am not in any way condemning outrightly what the present government are doing because I believe that they have some good intentions for Nigerians. All I am saying is that let them get feed back from the rest of us to know how people are receiving them. If their policies are harsh on the people, what should they do to ameliorate the harshness. At least that will make the expectations of the government not to be forgotten and jettisoned.
What do you think about the recent political move, heading to one-party state, do you think this will be the best for a country with tribal inclinations in politics and others?
Without any shadow of doubt, the issue of one-party state is unconstitutional. What our constitution created is a multi-party democracy. Therefore, any drive towards a one-party state in Nigeria is outrightly unconstitutional. I think it is not going to be the best thing for our people. But I need to say that I condemn completely the politicians that are leaving their parties to APC. I think there must be some bit of morality and principles in our politics. The courts had held that it is immoral and illegal for, especially elected people who were elected on the platform of political parties on their manifesto, promises, ideas and ideals of these political parties. The courts have held it repeatedly that it is both immoral and illegal for them to jettison those ideas, ideals, promises and manifestos and run over to another political party that did not subscribe to those ideas. No matter how one looks at it, there is a social contract between the electorate and the people they have elected into offices. For instance, at the last election, my people from Ngor-Okpala/Aboh Mbaise federal constituency looked at the APC, PDP, APGA manifestoes and candidates and elected a Labour Party candidate. What it meant was that for that position, the people subscribed to the Labour Party manifesto, programme and ideas to elect our candidate. It is both illegal and immoral for that person elected on the platform of Labour Party in Ngor-Okpala/Aboh Mbaise to unilaterally cross over to APC, PDP or YDP without coming to us in Ngor-Okpala to acquire a new mandate. The proper thing is if you are elected on a platform of a political party, you must remain in that party throughout that journey. Any time you want to crossover, you must resign, come back to the people and campaign for a by-election on the platform of your new political party; then another person will now be the candidate for the former party. If we now agree to send you back on the platform of your new political party, you go back. Otherwise, we send back the person who is flying the flag of the party that we voted for initially. It is wrong for our elected people to take us for granted. For crying out loud, power belongs to the people. The representation is ours. So, if we elect you on the platform of a political party and you change your political party without coming to the people, you should lose your seat. That to me is a very simple matter. The moment you continue to sacrifice morality on the altar of political expediency, the more we keep going back in terms of political development.
What do members of Imo Harmony Project (IHP) want to achieve?
I am a member of Imo Harmony project (IHP). IHP has a history and origin. The Imo Elder’s Council is an organization created by law in Imo State. It met and produced what is called the Charter of Equity in Imo State. That Charter of Equity in Imo State is that for there to be equity, justice and fairness, the governorship seat in Imo State must rotate among the three senatorial zones. By the time they were doing that, an Orlu man was the governor and the charter was that the Orlu man should be re-elected to do a second tenure. Thereafter the governorship should go to Owerri, after Owerri, Okigwe and back to Orlu etc. It created a principle of rotation of the office of governor within the three senatorial zones. We subscribed to the equity and that was why, we, from Owerri zone supported the re-election of His Excellency, Senator Hope Uzodimma as a governor. Governor Uzodimma won his election in all the local government areas of Owerri zone because all the people from Owerri zone mobilized for him, notwithstanding there were candidates from Owerri zone. Now, the IHP is that for there to be harmony in Imo State, subsequent to the re-election of Governor Uzodimma, then the whole of Imo State should be mobilized to get their preferred governorship candidate from Owerri zone. We are not saying that a particular person should be governor from Owerri zone, we are not saying that a particular political party should be elected or that a candidate of a political party should become governor from Owerri zone, no. What we are saying is that all the political parties in Imo State should nominate their candidate from Owerri zone. So that if there are five or more political parties, all of their candidates should come from Owerri zone and the rest of Imo State should choose any of them that they prefer. With this, harmony will be created. Next, all the political parties should select their candidates from Okigwe zone, then to Orlu; so, there will be harmony in the production of Imo State governor. That is the essence of Imo Harmony Project.
Where were you when you were appointed Attorney General of Imo State?
First of all, one might not be able to appreciate the dynamism of politics. I was nominated into the executive council of Governor Rochas Okorocha by a political bloc. When all the nominations were in, they looked at everyone and felt I was the most suited to become Attorney-General, and I was nominated as a commissioner forwarded to the House of Assembly, cleared and sworn in and my portfolio was announced as Attorney General. Any lawyer would tell you it is a good thing and a big deal to become Attorney-General of any state. I was happy and enjoyed my job as Attorney General. I was there for close to three years.
Are you fulfilled being a lawyer or would you have preferred another profession?
First of all, I became a lawyer courtesy of my father’s indoctrination. My father was very enlightened and at a point a merchandising manager of Nigeria Tobacco Company, which is equivalent to a sales director. As a young growing boy, he kept drawing into my ear that I would be a lawyer. But before then, I liked the course Business Administration; but my father talked me out of that and encouraged me to study law. So, all through my primary and secondary schools, my mind was made on becoming a lawyer. The moment my father talked me out of studying Bus-Admin, I have never considered any other profession other than law. Therefore, I groomed myself from an early stage with the target of becoming a lawyer. And one of the best days of my life was the day I was called to the Bar. It was obvious I had become a lawyer.
As one of the first ever sets of JAMB candidates in 1978, what can you make out of the 2025 poor outing of JAMB results especially with the registrar taking responsibility of the errors?
Let me assure you that ironically, I was among the very set of candidates that wrote JAMB in Nigeria. At that time, I never knew how questions in objective literature, history would be set. We were the very first set and I scored 313; and the best at that time in Law was Hon. Justice Obisike-Orji from Abia State who scored 315. Whether we agree with it or not, the direction or the method of studying has completely deviated from what it is today. Then we sat down to read our books. There was no Internet and social media, all we had was our books. Today, I want to assure you that the blame that JAMB decided to ascribe to itself notwithstanding, a lot of our children are distracted by the social media. It is nice that JAMB looked inwards and agreed it was part of their fault, but reading culture especially reading for culture that would give one knowledge has gone. Till date, I tell my children that more than all my readings are general knowledge because lawyers’ tools are not books, it is innate intelligence and the ability to read and understand human nature and psychology. Our children do not do that kind of reading that we used to do at our time. Then again, you will agree with me that there was no Chelsea, Manchester United, Barcelona etc. There was no satellite television. All we had that kept us company were our books and it gave us knowledge, pleasure and fun. Then it gave us the ability of being knowledgeable in almost every sphere. I still read books on every aspect of knowledge. Our type or reading has been replaced by TikTok, WhatsApp, Instagram etc.
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