Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen, has said that the judicial arm of government was on the same page with President Muhammadu Buhari on the on-going anti-corruption war in the country. The CJN said this yesterday while fielding questions from State House correspondents after a closedoor meeting with the President in Abuja.
“I have answered that before and I still say the same thing. We are on the same page with the Executive. There are three arms of government and these three arms constitute the government. The government is not only the Executive,” he said. The CJN also spoke on the allegation that the Judiciary was not doing enough to ensure speedy trial of cases, saying the judiciary “is doing its best on speedy trial of graft and other cases in courts.”
“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 having 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.
“These are the basic things that everybody must know. We must all work together; cooperate for the system to move forward. But if you keep thinking that the Judiciary is the culprit in this delay process, 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. Asked if he was happy with the performance of the Judges so far, the CJN responded in the affirmative. “Yes. So far, so good! Under the circumstances, I must admit that so far, so good. It is in order to enable you know the workings of the system that I set up the COMPRECO (Commission for the Prevention of Corruption) committee.” Giving an update on prisons decongestion, Onnoghen said: “You are seeing everything being done on the issue. Next week, we are continuing with our
