Well Done, CJN Justice Tanko Muhammad But…

By Abbati Dankanti Gumel

I commend our respectable and learned Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Tanko Muhammad, for a job well done so far.

A very important area I wish the CJN to lay more emphasis on is the delay and failure to adjudicate high profile corruption cases in our courts of law.

The administration of justice pertaining high profile corruption cases has suffered unbearable neglect and it is where I believe, the law courts should, as a matter of utmost urgency, refocus their attention.

Criminals or culprits allowed to be roaming the streets under the auspices of bail should be revisited in order to re-address the issue with a view to making the public ‘differentiate between husband and wife’.

In this area, the CJN should summon all justices in corruption related cases from 2003 to date to either continue with cases within a deadline and conclude them, or dismiss them!

Once upon a time, in the first tenure of PMB, he had clearly voiced out his hard feelings and lamented the way and manner the Nigerian judiciary treated corruption cases with kid gloves. That is to say, many corruption cases spent years without the courts pronouncing judgment on them.

Many judges were unable to complete judgments because some judges died or retired. Some important cases were transferred from one judge to another or unnecessarily adjourned at the request of lawyers.

Therefore, the only solution to deter and prevent bribery and corruption gaining further ground in the country is for the judges to discourage the undedicated, unpatriotic lawyers who are dishonest from besieging our courts seeking quick and favourable judgments. They should send such signal across the country.

This way, the CJN would be able to bring sanity, peace and harmony into our court proceedings which will lead to drastic reduction the unwanted inmates’ congestion in our correctional centres nationwide.

Abbati Dankanti Gumel adggumel@gmail.com