Challenged by NBA, Chief judge says court acted in good faith freezing #EndSARS promoters’ accounts

By Yemi Oyeyemi, Abuja

The Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice John Tsoho, has said that contrary to insinuations in some quarters that the court intentionally froze the accounts of #EndSARS promoters, it only played its part as an interpreter of the law.

He said the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had spproached the court seeking an order to freeze the accounts of some corporate bodies and names of individuals were not attached to the applications.

Justice Tsoho, speaking during the opening of the 2020/2021 legal year, Abuja on Tuesday, said that three months before the #EndSARS protest, the CBN had approached the court seeking an order to freeze the accounts of corporate bodies.

The CJ was reacting to the speech by the chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Olumide Akpata.

Akpata, represented by Yusuf Kadiri, had expressed disdain for the role played by the court in freezing accounts of #Endsarrs promoters.

“I must remind us of the dwindling hopes of the common man in the Judiciary. Following the #Endsars protests, this honourable court was involved in the press, in a rather uncomplimentary manner on account of freezing of bank accounts of individuals and organisations believed to have bankrolled the process,” said Akpata.

Reacting #EndSARS, Tsoho said: “Three months before the protest, the CBN kept bringing applications almost in their hundreds based on what they call deliberate resolve to ruin the economy through money laundering.

“So, if it was the #Endsars people that were involved in the activities under cover then it is unfortunate for people to begin to call and vilify the court making damaging allegations against the court.

“If steps were not taken, the Nigerian economy would have collapsed, that is to say about three months ago, the dollar would have exchanged far above N500.”

In its comments on behalf of the Body of Senior Advocates of Nigeria (BOSAN), Joe-Kyari Gadzama said: “It is worthwhile to consider that the attack on the Judiciary signals a general and growing dischanment with the entire justice architecture. The man on the street is not particularly concerned with the case load of the judge or magistrate, all he knows is that the system is sluggish.”

On corruption, Gadzama said that It is important that the Judiciary guards its reputation jeolously by doing all it can to eliminate every trace of vice.

Meanwhile, Justice Tsoho lamented that COVID-19 pandemic eroded policies of the federal high court in the last legal year, 2019/2020.

He said he would focus on enhancing effective administration of justice, welfare of judges and staff, and overall management of the court.

He noted that despite the effect of COVID-19 pandemic, the court disposed a total number of 8,585 with 123, 513 cases pending out of 10, 464 cases filed, comprising 2,851 civil and 2, 599 criminal cases; and 1, 965 fundamental rights applications.

The Attorney-General of the Federal and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), noted that the judiciary had risen above the challenge of Covid-19 by developing virtual court proceedings.

This, he said was to ensure that the wheel of justice was kept in motion.

Malami, who was represented by Dayo Apata, (SAN), the Solicitor General of the Federation, noted the need to maintain the use of ICT, particularly as the country seemed to be experiencing a second wave of the pandemic.