Judiciary
‘This Nonsense Must Stop’: CJN orders probe of 3 judges over verdicts
The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Ibrahim Muhammad has approved the probe of three judges over conflicting verdicts in their courts.
The CJN who is also the chairman of the National Judicial Council, NJC, gave the approval after a marathon meeting with seven Chief judges on Monday.
Those summoned by the CJN are the chief judges of Rivers, Kebbi, Cross River, Anambra, Jigawa, FCT and Imo states.
However, the normal modus operandi of the NJC is that the Council probe erring judges after petitions forwarded to it.
According to a statement by the Director of Information at the NJC, Mr Soji Oye, the CJN talking tough told Chief Judges; “Your job as heads of court is a sacred one, and it, therefore, includes you vicariously taking the sins of others.
“There must be an end to this nonsense. You shall henceforth take absolute charge in assigning cases or matters, especially political personally.
“We shall make example with these three Judges and never shall we condone such act.
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“A damage to one jurisdiction is a damage to all. We must therefore put an end to indiscriminate granting of exparte orders, conflicting judgements or rulings occasioned by forum-shopping.
“Your job as Heads of Court is a sacred one, and it, therefore, includes you vicariously taking the sins of others. There must be an end to this nonsense.
“You shall henceforth take absolute charge in assigning cases or matters, especially political, personally.
“We shall make an example with these three Judges and never shall we condone such act”.
The statement further revealed that the NJC will meet with all Heads of Court in the Country and leadership of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, over the repeated abuse of the judicial process through indiscriminate applications for ex-parte injunctions.
“Each of the CJs was separately quizzed personally by the CJN for over an hour, before later reading a riot act in a joint session with all of them”, the statement added.
