The appearance of Nyesom Wike, minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), and Supreme Court Justice Emmanuel Agim at the University of Calabar’s (UNICAL) convocation ceremony has elicited debate on social media.

UNICAL marked its 50th anniversary and 37th convocation on Saturday, drawing high-profile attendees, including Wike and Agim.

Images from the event, showing Wike seated alongside Agim, have triggered reactions online, particularly given Agim’s role in a recent Supreme Court ruling tied to the political turmoil in Rivers State. During the convocation, UNICAL conferred an honorary doctorate in law on Wike.

Read also: Five major issues confronting Rivers’ new administrator, Ibok-Ete Ibas

The Supreme Court upheld a federal high court decision preventing the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the accountant-general of the federation from disbursing statutory allocations to Rivers State.

The ruling mandated that the state’s governor, Siminalayi Fubara, submit the appropriation bill to the Martin Amaewhule-led faction of the assembly before the funds could be released. The court also nullified the state’s local government election held in October 2024, a decision that favoured the Amaewhule faction, which is aligned with Wike.

The prolonged political crisis in Rivers eventually led to a state of emergency declaration by President Bola Tinubu and the suspension of both Fubara and the state assembly for six months.

Following public outcry from the photos, the Supreme Court reacted on Monday, refuting claims that Agim had attended the event as Wike’s guest.

Akande Festus, the court’s director of information and public relations, described such claims as “misleading and false” in a statement released on Monday.

According to Festus, Agim was at the convocation as an honouree and a distinguished alumnus of the university, where he was recognised with an honourary doctorate in law for his contributions to the legal profession.

“Hon. Justice Agim attended the convocation as an esteemed honouree and an alumnus of the institution, whom the governing council had found worthy to be conferred with an Honorary Doctorate Degree in Law (Doctor Honoris Causa),” the apex court clarifies.

He added that Agim had originally been scheduled to attend a burial in Bayelsa alongside other Supreme Court justices but opted for the convocation with official permission.

The apex cout reiterated that Agim’s presence at the event was independent and unrelated to any government official, stressing that any contrary suggestion undermines judicial independence.

“We wish to emphasize that Justice Emmanuel Agim’s participation at the ceremony was independent and not as an official representative of any government ministry or department, let alone accompanying any serving or retired government official.

“Any insinuation to the contrary is not only inaccurate but undermines the judicial independence that is crucial to our democracy,” the statement reads.