More facts have emerged on how the National Judicial Council (NJC) rejected a Notice of Withdrawal by a petitioner and insisted on determining an earlier complaint against a High Court judge.

CITY LAWYER recalls that the apex disciplinary body for Nigeria’s judicial officers recently suspended Justice Obiora Nwabunike of Anambra State High Court from performing judicial functions for one year without pay and placed the jurist on “Watch-List” for two years thereafter.

NJC had ruled that “On the part of Hon. Justice A. O. Nwabunike of Anambra State, the Council found him to have breached the provision of Rule 3.1 of the Revised Code of Conduct for Judicial Officers of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 2016.”

The Council stated that the jurist also failed to adhere to the principle of stare decisis from his different interpretation of the word “aspirant” and “abused his judicial powers by granting ex parte orders without a Motion on Notice filed along with the Originating Summons.”

Available documents showed that the petitioner who doubles as Anambra State Administrative Secretary for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), one Prince Casmir Ajulu had, while appearing before an NJC committee set up to probe the embattled jurist, tendered his Notice of Withdrawal of the petition.

But in a letter obtained by CITY LAWYER and dated 1st February, 2024, the NJC informed Ajulu that it had rejected his Notice of Withdrawal and would forge ahead to decide the petition on its merit. The letter was titled, “Re: NJC Investigation Committee on Allegations Against Hon. Justice A. O. Nwabunike, High Court Anambra State.”

The disciplinary body noted that Ajulu had penned a petition dated 16th September, 2021 against the jurist, adding that the party stalwart appeared before NJC’s committee on 6th September, 2023 “wherein you tendered a Notice of Withdrawal of the said petition.”

Vowing that it would not honour the withdrawal notice, the NJC wrote in the letter signed by Mrs. F. Bintur-Shik, its Director of Administration, that “I am to inform you that the Report of the Investigation Committee was considered by the National Judicial Council at its 104th Meeting held on 7th December, 2023 and at the end of deliberation, Council did not accept your withdrawal of the petition and directed that the Committee should continue with the investigation.”

The committee went ahead to invite Ajulu to its next sitting, and reminded him to “come along with your Counsel and witness(es) on record, if any, please.”

In the 26-page petition obtained by CITY LAWYER, Ajulu had accused Justice Nwabunike of sundry infractions, reeling out 12 grounds upon which he sought disciplinary action against the embattled judge.

The petition was titled “RE: SUIT NO. A/230/2021 BETWEEN SENATOR UGOCHUKWU UBA V. INEC & 2 ORS: COMPLAINT AGAINST JUSTICE A. O. NWABUNIKE OF ANAMBRA STATE HIGH COURT, AWKA JUDICIAL DIVISION; COMPLAINT PURSUANT TO JUDICIAL DISCIPLINE REGULATIONS, 2017.”

Leading the pack of complaints was that the embattled jurist “granted an interim/exparte order in favour of a party who did not file any motion on notice alongside his motion exparte.”

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