The Enugu state chief judge, Justice I. A. Umezulike, has been queried by the National Judicial Council over an accusation that he accepted N10 million donation from a litigant who had a case before his court.

This was contained in a petition filed by an Enugu legal practitioner, Peter N. Eze, on February 2016.

According to Vanguard, the chief judge had invited the litigant to his book launch, where the litigant was said to have made the donation to him.

Eze also alleged that the CJ had “altered a court order, for the purposes of assisting a judgment creditor to gain possession of a parcel of land in dispute.”

He further stated that the judge had struck out the plaintive case and still awarded punitive damages against the defendant.

Furthermore, Eze alleged that the Judge had ordered his arrest because he had criticized the donation.

The petition reads that: “My Lord I believe that this order for my arrest was made in bad faith and was a gross abuse of judicial power and my fundamental rights. It was meant to intimidate me and cower me for complaining about the earlier misconduct of Justice Umezulike.”

“My Lord, I have suffered grave persecution in the hands of Hon. Justice I. A. Umezulike. I brought the matter to the attention of the NJC in 2014 and sadly I was told that the NJC was satisfied with the explanation Hon. Justice Umezulike had given to my complaints.”

“Unfortunately I was never shown a copy of the reply Justice Umezulike sent to the allegations I made. In the meantime, I have been harassed by the police, sent on exile and my practice has virtually ground to a halt. All because I pointed out to Justice Umezulike that it was wrong for a judge to invite a litigant who is a plaintiff in his court, to a launching of a book written by him, and accept a donation of N10,000,000 from the litigant.”

“It is my fervent prayer that this time, my complaints are seen to be grave enough to warrant a panel of enquiry being set up to investigate Hon. Justice Umezulike.”

Th NJC, on its part, has sent a query to the judge.

The query, which was signed by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Justice Mahmud Mohammed, mandated Justice Umezulike to respond within 14 days.

The query reads that in part: “I forward herewith a petition Ref No. Msc/23/2016 dated February 19, 2016, against you by one Mr. Peter N. Eze on the above subject matter.”

“The petition speaks for itself. I shall be glad to have your comments within two weeks from the date of your receipt of this letter, please.”