Benue Assembly suspends Chief Judge over corruption

The Benue State House of Assembly has suspended the state Chief Judge, Justice Maurice Ikpambese, over alleged misappropriation and mismanagement of the budgetary allocation and finances of the judiciary.

This was sequel to a motion moved by the Majority Leader of the House, Saater Tiseer, during plenary session in Makurdi, the Benue State capital, on Tuesday, February 18, 2025.

Tiseer alleged that Ikpambese had been engaging with politicians and political office holders for favourable judicial outcomes.

He claimed that such action was indirect participation and incitement of industrial actions against the state executive.

The majority leader accused the chief judge of acts of bribery and corruption, alleging that he gave undue favouritism by insisting that his cronies held unmerited judicial positions.

Tiseer further accused the chief judge of abuse of office by issuing a directive to overturn the Benue State Electoral Law which was passed by the House and assented to by the governor of the state.

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The motion was seconded by Peter Ipusu (APC/Katsina-Ala West), who stated that the motion was apt and timely.

Ruling, the Speaker, Hyacinth Dajoh, directed the immediate swearing-in of the next-in-line in state Judicial Office as the Acting Chief Judge of Benue State.

Dajoh stated that the complaint against Ikpambese would be forwarded to the National Judicial Council (NJC) for an honest, independent, hitch-free, transparent, and diligent investigation into the allegations.

The Speaker said the council would look into the abuse of his office as a Judicial officer, demonstrated by his confrontational disregard for the laws enacted by the state legislature and the financial infractions.

The Star