After a two day emergency meeting, the National Judicial Council, NJC,
succumbed to pressure and finally asked Judges under investigations to
step aside.
The Judges according to a statement signed by Soji Oye said Council noted
that Judicial officers facing corruption allegations should not be preside
over cases.
The NJC is headed by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Justice Mahmud
Mohammed.
The statement read: “The National Judicial Council under the Chairmanship
of the Hon. Chief Justice of Nigeria, Hon. Justice Mahmud Mohammed, GCON,
at its 79th Meeting held on the 2nd and 3rd day of November 2016,
commenced implementation of specific aspects of the National Judicial
Policy which came into force in April 2016 and was launched on Monday 24th
October, 2016.
“During the Meeting, Council set-up a Transparency and Anti-Corruption
Policy Implementation Committee as follows: Hon Justice E. O. Ayoola, CON
(Rtd Justice of the Supreme Court) – Chairman.
“Hon Justice Kashim Zannah, Chief Judge of Borno State – Member. A. B.
Mahmoud, SAN, President Nigeria Bar Association – Member. “Section 6 of
the National Judicial Policy aims at putting in place multi-faceted
strategies and guidelines that will ensure transparency and eliminate
corruption in the Judiciary.
“It seeks, amongst other measures, to provide a platform and opportunity
to citizens who profess factual and credible knowledge of information on
the nature and modalities of corruption in the judicial system to
ventilate such.
“Council also decided that Judicial Officers shall not be standing trial
for alleged corruption related offences and be performing judicial
functions at the same time. “Council however decided that it will ensure
that Judicial Officers who are being investigated for alleged high profile
criminal offences do not perform judicial functions until their cases are
concluded”.