By The Rivers State Judicial Service Commission (JSC) has vehemently refuted claims made by a former Chief Magistrate, Ejike King George, asserting that his departure from office was due to the recently declared state of emergency in the state. George had penned a letter expressing his unease with the new administrative direction, labeling it “alien” and “antithetical” to the values of the legal profession.
In his letter, dated April 11, 2025, and addressed to the Chief Judge of Rivers State through the JSC Secretary, George stated his “discomfort with the recent appointment of a quasi-military administration to run the affairs of a modern state like ours” as the primary reason for his “difficult and regrettable decision.”
However, the JSC has presented a starkly different account. In a statement issued in Port Harcourt on Tuesday by the acting secretary, Blessing Vic-Jumbo, the Commission firmly denied that George’s exit was voluntary or politically motivated. Instead, the JSC revealed that Chief Magistrate George was compulsorily retired through a letter dated February 12, 2025. This action, according to the JSC, was the culmination of disciplinary proceedings stemming from his prolonged and unauthorized absence from duty, which spanned from August 25, 2023, to December 2024.
The JSC’s statement detailed that a disciplinary panel had thoroughly reviewed George’s conduct, found him culpable, and initially offered him the option of voluntary retirement within a specified timeframe. Following his failure to take this option, the Commission proceeded with compulsory retirement, effective February 10, 2025. The JSC emphatically stressed that this disciplinary action was entirely unrelated to the current political climate or the declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State.
The Commission took strong exception to George’s recent public comments, which suggested his departure was triggered by the emergence of a “quasi-military administration.” The JSC minced no words in describing George’s claims as “a contrived falsehood” and “a mischievous action calculated to deceive the public, attract undue sympathy, and undeserved patronage.
