The Chief Justice of the Federation ( CJN) Justice Walter Onnoghen has absolved the Judiciary from the slow pace of trial of corrupt cases and the non- establishment of proposed Special Courts to handle such cases.
Onnoghen who spoke with State House Correspondents on Tuesday after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, said it is the responsibility of the Executive working with the Legislature to established such Special Courts.
“It is the responsibility of the Executive in conjunction with the Legislature that has the prerogatives of setting up Courts, including the Special Courts, under our Constitution and not the Judiciary. Once the Executive set up such Courts, the Judiciary will run it by providing the manpower”
“If such Courts are not established, we cannot act on it” he said
Charter seven of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended provides procedure for the establishment of the various courts and powers of such Courts.
The Chief Justice of Nigeria also debunked claims that the judiciary was not supporting the Executive in its efforts to tackle corruption
“I have said this before and will say it against that we are on the same page with the Executive. There are three arms of government and these three arms constitutes the government. The government is not only the Executive.”
“Now, l believe that you know, with your experience of many years of practice that there has never been situation in which any case was taken to court and decided upon and the Judge was not there to listen to the case. , or haven finished hearing, he refused to deliver judgement.
So, when cases are not tried expeditiously and the Judge is there, ready to listen to the case, you come and for one reason or the other, you take a date to adjourn the case, and the courts grants the adjournment which is normal during proceedings, you cannot turn round and blame the Judge for that
Onnoghen called on all stakeholders to cooperate and work together to ensure speedy court processes.
” But if you keep thinking that the Judiciary is the culprit in this delay princess, you are not telling the whole story. It is not the judiciary that would go and arrest someone before looking for evidence, it is not the judiciary that would go into investigations. No, we do not operate the Inquisitional mode of justice as it is practiced by the French. Our own is that an independent body must investigate, prosecute while the judge decides” he said.
Now, l believe that you know, with your experience of many years of practice that there has never been situation in which any case was taken to court and decided upon and the Judge was not there to listen to the case. , or haven finished hearing, he refused to deliver judgement.
He also gave a pass mark to Judges for their performance under the current circumstance
” Under the circumstances, l must admit that so far , so good. It is in other to enable you know the workings of the system that l set up the COMPRECO ( Commission for the Prevention of Corruption) committee.
“All along, everybody is passing buck, the prosecution will say it is not our responsibility, we are not the cause of the delay, the investigator will say l am nit the cause, the Judge will say, l am nit the cause. So, the people must know who us the cause if the delay, that us why l set up that committee. And it made up of both the defense counsel, the prosecutor and the Judiciary under the NJC.
Tony Ailemen, Abuja
