Activist Kicks As Okowa Sworn-In Delta Judge Accused Of Alleged Child Trafficking

A child rights activist, Comrade Ighorhiohwunu Aghogho, has condemned the swearing-in of a judge in Delta state petitioned to the National Judicial Council (NJC) over alleged child trafficking.

The activist alleged that the judge, Emmanuel Zimi Dolor, nominated and sworn in alongside four other on Monday has series of petitions of alleged child trafficking hanging on his neck.

Recall that the National Judicial Council (NJC) had earlier dismissed the Petitions against the judge dated 31/12/18, 7/1/19, 28/1/19, 16/2/19, 19/6/19, 9/7/19, 26/8/19, 25/9/19 and 7/10/19 respectively through its letter dated 23/9/19 with reference number NJC/DE.HC/10/II/96, NJC/DE.HC/10/II/94 respectively.

But the activist said that all the petitions were not thoroughly investigated as he – the petitioner, was never called to defend his petition.

He said that the Chief Judge of Delta who is a party to the petitions is the only one the council often resort to for verification of the “facts” in the petitions.

He, therefore, alleged ‘bias, unfair hearing and corruption laced’ reply from both NJC and DSS which had earlier cleared the accused judge whenever he wrote on the subject matter.

According to him, “Justice Marshal Umukoro who was among the subjects of the said petitions did carried out the unlawful investigations and unlawfully forwarded the said petitions to DSS to unlawfully concoct a report via a letter dated 8/9/19 with reference number CS.651/60 and same was adopted by NJC and published without inviting the petitioner.

“From the observation of the two separate NJC letters, it was observed that, the introductory paragraphs were same referring to same Petitions with same dates stating clearly that the investigations were carried out by the Chief Judge of Delta State, Justice Marshal Umukoro who was among the subjects of the Petitions.

“The implication is that, the Chief Judge of Delta State investigated Petitions addressed to the CJN/NJC where he was among the subjects of the said Petitions.

“That the Chief Judge of Delta State became a Judge in his own case”, he stated.

In a petition addressed to Governor Ifeanyi Okowa and the state House of Assembly, asking that the judge should not be confirmed and sworn-in, the petitioner alleged that using his position as Chief Registrar High Court of Justice Asaba, Dolor had been involved in the massive disappearance of thousands of innocent children from the state.

According to him, on April 18, 2019, while the nominee was Chief Registrar of the High Court in Asaba, he “unethically” issued letters exonerating the state Chief Judge, Justice Umukoro, and dismissed a petition before the NJC and the Chief Justice of Nigeria bothering on alleged child trafficking and illegal adoption of children by the Delta State judiciary.

Aghogho in the petition further alleged that Dolor also issued a letter dated April 20, 2018, constituting additional family courts in Delta State during the pendency of NJC investigation into the child trafficking allegation.

Notwithstanding, two different replied letters showed the CJN/NJC alongside the State Director of State Security Service (SSS) in Asaba had cleared the judge of the said allegation.

But the activist had stated that the action of NJC was unprofessional and a gross violation of the Section 153 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) that set it up because “Emmanuel Zimi Dolor Esq was among the judicial officers/workers supposedly to be under investigation by NJC in a petition dated 31/12/18 and 7/10/19 respectively.”

Emmanuel Zimi was not available for comments as of the time of filing this report but the National Judicial Council (NJC), which recommended him for confirmation as a judge, said it cleared him of all the allegations against him before forwarding his name for the position.

According to a report, in a letter dated September 23, 2019, signed by Ahmed Gambo Saleh, Secretary of the Council on behalf of the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) addressed to Aghogho in response to his petitions dated December 31, 2018, and January 7, 2019, to the CNJ, the Council said the allegations were investigated and were found to be frivolous and baseless,

But Aghogho, however, alleged that most of the letters were contained with concoctions in defense of alleged “child traffickers including Emmanuel Zimi Dolor Esq”, whom, he said, still has a subsisting protest petition against his appointment dated 7/10/19 still pending at the NJC for fresh investigation of the whole matter.

He said that since he made the petitions public, his life has been under serious threat allegedly from suspected judicial and security agents.

Swearing-in the judicial officers on Monday, Governor Okowa, disclosed that the five new judges were appointed in line with procedures for such appointments as enshrined in Section 271, sub-section (2) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended).

He said the appointees possessed proven track record of performance, critical thinking skills and the noble temperament expected of judges, saying that their appointments were fitting reward for their years of diligence, patience and determination to excel.