Judicial
symbol for justice
The Special Anti-Corruption Courts
have so far delivered judgments in 324 cases, striking out 12 and reserved 62
for judgment since it was designated in November 2017.
The Director, Information of the
National Judicial Council (NJC), Mr Soji Oye disclosed this in a statement on
Sunday in Abuja.
The special courts were established to assist
the traditional courts in the speedy trial of corruption and financial crimes
cases. He said the figure formed parts of the report card of the Corruption and
Financial Crime Cases Trials Monitoring Committee, (COTRIMCO) made available to
the council. Oye said the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter
Onnoghen, had on November 2017 inaugurated the committee to determine the
causes of slow pace of corruption and financial crimes cases. He said the
committee, headed by Justice Suleiman Galadima, a retired Justice of the
Supreme Court, had in the last six months toured the country to ensure courts
complied with the directive of the council. “Prior to the formation of the committee,
the Chief Justice had directed the Heads of Court, at a Special Session of the
Supreme Court to mark the commencement of the 2017/2018 Legal Year, to
designate the special courts. ““These courts are solely for the purpose of
hearing and speedy determination of corruption and financial crime cases.
“”Upon receipt of the lists, the committee divided itself into three
sub-committees to cater for the easy monitoring and evaluation of the said
cases in the different zones of the country. “”They include Zone A: Abuja and
the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Zone B: Northern Zone, and Zone C:
Southern Zone. “”Of the total number of 324 judgments delivered, the Supreme
Court, in Zone A, delivered 52 judgments and reserved seven cases for judgments
from the list of 125 cases pending before it, leaving an outstanding number of
73 cases. “”The Court of Appeal, Abuja Division, within the period, also
disposed of 74 appeals and reserved 11 for judgments from the list of 137 cases
in its docket,’’ he said. Oye further the Federal High Court had so far
delivered two judgments from the 91 pending cases before it. He also said the
High Court of the Federal Capital Territory delivered three judgments and
reserve one case for judgment leaving an outstanding 178 cases pending. “In
Zone B, Northern Zone, 62 judgments were delivered by the six Court of Appeal
Divisions, 19 Federal High Court Divisions and 19 High Courts of various
Northern States from the total number of 425 cases. Oye said at total of 12
cases were struck out. “”From the 12 cases struck out, five are from the Court
of Appeal and seven from High Courts of three States,’’ he said. “The
designated courts in Zone C, (Southern Zone), have delivered judgments in 131
out of the 952 corruption and financial crime cases on-going at the various
Courts and reserved 43 cases for judgments. ““From the total number of
judgments delivered in the zone, the Federal High Court delivered seven
judgments out of a total of 304 cases pending before it,’’ he said Oye,
however, said that the High Courts of 17 states within the jurisdiction had
delivered 124 cases from the 524 on-going in their various courts. According to
him, the Court of Appeal in the zone has reserved 31 out of 121 appeals pending
in the court for judgment. He said the Federal High Court, on its part,
reserved three cases for judgment while the various State High Courts in the
Zone had reserved nine cases for judgments. He said the committee would
continue the exercise after the courts’ vacation. Courtesy:(NAN)
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