THE National Judicial Council (NJC) is set to investigate allegations of misconduct involving 27 judges nationwide.
To facilitate this, the council has established four committees tasked with conducting the investigation. This decision was among the key outcomes of the NJC’s meeting held in Abuja on Wednesday August 14, and Thursday, 15 .
The legal body, in a statement signed by its Director of Information, Soji Oye, on Friday, August 16, said the council also chose to dismiss petitions filed against the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem, the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice John Tsoho, and other judicial officers from both the Court of Appeal and High Courts.
However, the NJC issued a letter of advice to Justice O. M. Olagunju of the Oyo State High Court, urging caution and prudence in his actions as a judicial officer, even in difficult situations.
In its statement, the NJC explained that the letter of advice to Justice O. M. Olagunju was issued after the council reviewed its committee’s report.
The committee had been tasked with inviting the judge to defend his inappropriate language used in a letter to the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Kayode Ariwoola, in which he challenged the council’s decision regarding its policy direction on the appointment of the President of the Customary Court of Appeal, Oyo State.
“Council, at the meeting, considered the report of its preliminary complaints assessment committee on 22 petitions written against 27 judicial officers of the federal and state high courts and decided to empanel four committees to investigate allegations in the petitions that were found meritorious.
“The remaining 18 petitions were discountenanced for lacking merit, abandoned, or being sub-judice,” part of the statement read.
Fatimah Quadri is a Journalist and a Fact-checker at The ICIR. She has written news articles, fact-checks, explainers, and media literacy in an effort to combat information disorder.
She can be reached at sunmibola_q on X or [email protected]