Justice Salami heads NJC’s anti-graft c’ttee

The National Judicial Council (NJC), headed by the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen, has appointed former President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Ayo Salami as the chairman of its newly constituted anti-corruption committee.

Justice Salami will head the 15-member Corruption and Financial Crime Cases Trial Monitoring Committee (COTRIMCO), the Director of Information of the NJC, Soji Oye said in a statement yesterday.

Other members of the committee are: Justice Kashim Zannah (OFR), Chief Judge, Borno State; Justice P.O. Nnadi, Chief Judge of Imo State; Justice Marsahal Umukoro, Chief Judge Delta State; Justice M. Abimbola, Chief Judge, Oyo State; and A.B Mahmud (SAN), President, NBA.

Others are, former NBA Presidents: Wole Olanipekun (SAN) Olisa Agbakoba (SAN), J.B. Daudu (SAN) and Austin Alegeh (SAN); and members of NJC, Dr Garba Tetengi (SAN) and Mrs R.I Inga.

It is expected that there will be representatives from the Nongovernmental organisations, Ministry of Justice, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) and the secretary of NJC, Gambo Saleh.

According to the statement, the functions of the committee:

“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.”

The CJN had during the special court session for the 2017/2018 legal year and swearing in of new SANs pledged to constitute the anti-corruption monitoring committee due to public concerns on slow pace of corruption trials in the country.

Justice Salami was removed from office by the administration of former president Goodluck Jonathan.