September 13, (THEWILL) – The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad, has ordered the Judicial Service Committee (JSC) to commence disciplinary action against the Upper Area Court Judge that issued a Direct Criminal Summons for a former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Professor Chukwuma Soludo.
The acting chief judge of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Justice Hussein Baba-Yusuf, who is the Chairman of the FCT Judicial Service Committee, is to submit his findings to the CJN within 21 days.
Gambo Garba of the Upper Area Court, Zuba, Abuja, had in July, issued a criminal summons against Soludo, over alleged serial abuse of office and a breach of Code of Conduct for public officers while serving as the CBN governor between May 29, 2004, and May 29, 2009.
The complainant, Oliver Bitrus, had alleged that Soludo, who held the CBN governor’s office as a public officer, flagrantly violated the Code of Conduct for public officers by buying property not attributable to his legitimate earnings.
According to the summons, Soludo was to appear before the court and answer to charges bordering on perjury, corruption and false assets declaration, which is completely outside the jurisdiction of the Upper Area Court.
Trial on criminal charges on false declaration of assets is exclusively vested in the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), but the Upper Area Court Judge assumed jurisdiction contrary to the provisions of the 1999 Constitution.
THEWILL reports that the CJN, in his determined effort to put an end to impunity and misconduct in the judiciary, had recently met with the chief judges of FCT, Rivers, Kebbi, Cross Rivers, Jigawa, Anambra and Imo states, directing them to admonish the judges in their jurisdictions on the danger of granting conflicting ex parte injunctions, especially by courts of coordinate jurisdiction.
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