Nasarawa Judicial Commission Suspends Chief Magistrate For Alleged Bribery, Abuse Of Power

According to the letter, Gwahemba is suspended with immediate effect until the misconduct charges are investigated.
The Judicial Service Commission in Nasarawa State has suspended a Chief Magistrate, Vincent W. Gwahemba, for alleged bribery and abuse of power.

Gwahemba’s suspension was announced in a letter dated January 30th, 2024, mandating the judicial official to provide responses within 24 hours to allegations of abuse of magisterial powers levelled against him by a senior lawyer, J.S. Okutepa, SAN.

According to the letter, Gwahemba is suspended with immediate effect until the misconduct charges are investigated.

He is expected to make appear before the Judicial Commission on a date to be later communicated to state his own side of the story.

The magistrate was accused in complaint number S/JSC/AD/OFF/12/VOL. XV/XXX and was addressed to the Chief Registrar of the state’s High Court of Justice over gross misconduct. He was also accused of being biased and giving a ruling for an unlawful detention of a suspect without any justification.

In a similar event in 2021, the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) in the state also suspended two senior officers over alleged misconduct,

The affected officials during that time were Mr Abdullahi Ahmed-Sani, Chief Registrar, High Court of Justice, and Mr Edward Ali-Liman, Deputy Chief Registrar (Personnel).

credit : Sahara reporters