▪︎ To meet all Heads of Court, NBA Leadership on the issue.
By Yemi Oyeyemi, Abuja
Without prompting or any petition, the National Judicial Council (NJC) may have opted to investigate three High Court judges who issued ex-parte orders that embarrassed the judiciary in the last two weeks.
Also, the Chief Justice of Nigeria CJN, Justice Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad, on Monday evening read the riot act to judges who grant frivolous ex-parte orders in undeserved matters to politicians.
He warmed the affected judges to desist from the act or have themselves to blame for any act of judicial misconduct.
At a crucial closed-door meeting held at the National Judicial Council NJC headquarters in Abuja with seven Chief Judges (CJs) over the issuance of conflicting exparte orders in their jurisdictions, he vowed that NJC will no longer condone such acts.
The CJN, it was learnt, personally questioned Chief Judges of the Federal Capital Territory, Rivers, Kebbi, Cross River, Jigawa, Anambra, and Imo States; jurisdictions where conflicting orders set the judiciary on edge.
He later read the riot act in a joint session with the seven Chief Judges.
A statement issued by the NJC Director of Information, Mr Soji Oye, said that the visibly angry CJN stated that “a damage to one jurisdiction is a damage to all.”
“We must therefore put an end to indiscriminate granting of exparte orders, conflicting judgments 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 example with these three judges and never shall we condone such act”, he was quoted as saying.
The statement said that three of the judges who granted conflicting exparte orders have been invited to appear before the National Judicial Council to show cause why disciplinary action should not be taken against them for granting the conflicting exparte orders.
Muhammad warned the Chief Judges to henceforth avoid unnecessary assumption of jurisdiction over matters with similar subject and parties already before another court, protect the court from lawyers that are out for forum-shopping, and work in tandem with all their judges to salvage the image of the Judiciary.
Justice Muhammad also warned the Chief Judges from making newly appointed judicial officers vacation judges and assigning complex cases to inexperienced judges.
He revealed that all Heads of Courts will be invited to a meeting to re-emphasize the need for the Judiciary to be circumspect on the issue of granting exparte orders.
The CJN advised all Heads of Court to be current on the development in the polity and the judgments delivered by courts of various jurisdictions, and to urgently issue practice direction to guide judges in their various courts to avoid giving conflicting decisions.
The CJN is also billed to meet with the NBA Leadership on the issue.