By Alex Enumah in Abuja
The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Samuel Onnoghen, has warned against what he described as flagrant disobedience to court orders, saying such actions could lead to breakdown of law and order in the country.
He appealed to all to respect and comply with the judgment and decision of courts to avoid throwing the country into a state anarchy, adding that any attempt to tamper with valid court orders should be condemned by all.
Justice Onnoghen stated this on Monday at a special session of the Supreme Court of Nigeria to mark the commencement of the 2017/2018 Legal Year and the swearing-in of 29 new Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN) in Abuja.
The CJN also disclosed that as part of efforts at ensuring the war on corruption is enhanced and successfully executed, special courts would be designated to handle corruption cases.
He said already, heads of courts of various jurisdictions had been directed to designate special courts solely for the purpose of hearing and speedily determining corruption and financial crime cases depending on the volume of such cases in their jurisdictions.
To make the corruption war total and to address the issue of alleged involvement of judges in bribery, the CJN announced that the NJC would constitute an Anti-Corruption Cases Trial Monitoring Committee (ACTMC) at its 88th meeting to be saddled with the responsibility of ensuring that both trial and appellate courts handling corruption and financial crime cases key into and abide by the renewed efforts at ridding the country of the cankerworm of corruption.
More to follow…
