The National Judicial Council NJC) has appointed retired Court of Appeal President Justice Isa Ayo Salami as the head of a 15-member committee to monitor courts’ handling of corruption cases.
The committee, named: The Corruption and Financial Crime Cases Trial Monitoring Committee (COTRIMCO), is also expected to drive the NJC’s” new policy on anti-corruption war.
NJC’s Director of Information Soji Oye, in a statement yesterday, said the decision on the committee’s composition was taken yesterday at the NJC’s 82th meeting in Abuja.
He said the NJC has directed heads of courts to cooperate with the committee and furnish it with information about corruption cases pending before them.
Oye added that the NJC has also asked the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court to set aside a date every week for the hearing of appeals relating to corruption cases.
He said the committee’s primary functions include:
regular monitoring and evaluation of proceedings at designated courts for financial and economic crimes nationwide;
advising the Chief Justice of Nigeria on how to eliminate delay in the trial of alleged corruption cases; giving feedback to the council on progress of cases in the designated courts, conduct background checks on judges selected for the designated courts; and evaluating the performance of the designated courts.
Other members of the committee are Justice Kashim Zannah (Chief Judge of Borno State), Justice P. O. Nnadi (CJ, Imo), Justice Marshal Umukoro (CJ, Delta), Justice M. L. Abimbola (CJ, Oyo State), President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Abubakar Mahmoud (SAN) and four former NBA Presidents – Wole Olanipekun, Olisa Agbakoba, Joseph Daudu and Augustine Alegeh (all Senior Advocates).
Others are Dr. Garba Tetengi (SAN), Mrs. R. I. Inga, representative of some non-government organisations, representative of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) and NJC’s Secretary, Gambo Saleh.
