{"id":2809,"date":"2017-06-03T20:21:57","date_gmt":"2017-06-03T20:21:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=2809"},"modified":"2017-06-03T20:21:57","modified_gmt":"2017-06-03T20:21:57","slug":"judicial-council-orders-recall-of-six-justices-reprimands-acquits-others","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=2809","title":{"rendered":"Council orders recall of six justices; reprimands, acquits others"},"content":{"rendered":"

PRESS RELEASE.
\nBy Soji Oye<\/strong>, Esq,\u00a0Director, Information, National Judicial Council (NJC).
\nThe \u00a0 National \u00a0 Judicial \u00a0 Council, \u00a0 under \u00a0 the \u00a0 Chairmanship \u00a0 of Hon. \u00a0 Justice \u00a0 Walter. \u00a0 S. \u00a0 N. \u00a0 Onnoghen, \u00a0 GCON, \u00a0 at \u00a0 its \u00a082nd Meeting \u00a0 which \u00a0 was \u00a0 held \u00a0 on \u00a0 31st \u00a0May \u00a0 and \u00a0 1st \u00a0June, 2017, considered \u00a0 the \u00a0 case \u00a0 of \u00a0 eight \u00a0 Judicial Officers \u00a0 who \u00a0 were directed to recuse themselves from duties on the request of the Attorney-General of the Federation pending the outcome of investigations \u00a0 against \u00a0 them.
\nTo \u00a0 maintain \u00a0 the \u00a0 integrity \u00a0 and sanctity of the \u00a0Judiciary and \u00a0sustain public confidence, the Judicial \u00a0 Officers \u00a0 were \u00a0 directed \u00a0 to \u00a0 recuse \u00a0 themselves \u00a0 from office with effect from 2nd November, 2016.
\n2. After deliberation, Council noted that out of the Judicial Officers directed to recuse themselves from performing their\u00a0official duties, only three have been charged to Court.
\nThey are:-\uf0b7 Hon. Justice N. S. Ngwuta, CFR, of the Supreme Court of Nigeria;\uf0b7 Hon. Justice A. F. A. Ademola of the Federal High Court; and\uf0b7 Hon. Justice Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia of the Federal HighCourt. The \u00a0trial \u00a0 of \u00a0 Hon. \u00a0 Justice \u00a0 A. \u00a0 F. \u00a0A. \u00a0Ademola \u00a0 has \u00a0 been concluded and he has been discharged and acquitted of the charges filed against him.
\nIn view of the foregoing, Council decided that the various Heads of Court should direct the following Judicial Officers to resume their judicial duties with effect from Wednesday 7th June, 2017, as there are already backlog of cases in their various Court for the past eight months
\n1. Hon. \u00a0 Justice \u00a0 John \u00a0 Inyang \u00a0 Okoro \u00a0 of \u00a0 the \u00a0 Supreme Court;\u00a02. Hon. Justice Uwani Abba Aji of the Court of Appeal;\u00a03. Hon. \u00a0 Justice \u00a0 Hydiazira \u00a0A. \u00a0 Nganjiwa \u00a0 of \u00a0 the \u00a0 Federal High Court;\u00a04. Hon. Justice A. \u00a0F. A. Ademola \u00a0of \u00a0the \u00a0Federal High Court who has been discharged and acquitted;\u00a05. Hon. \u00a0 Justice \u00a0 Musa \u00a0 H. \u00a0 Kurya \u00a0 of \u00a0 the \u00a0 Federal \u00a0 High Court; and\u00a06. Hon. \u00a0 Justice \u00a0 Agbadu \u00a0 James \u00a0 Fishim \u00a0 of \u00a0 National Industrial Court of Nigeria.
\n3. Council \u00a0 also \u00a0 at \u00a0 the \u00a0 Meeting, \u00a0 decided \u00a0 to \u00a0 warn \u00a0 Hon.Justice \u00a0 M. \u00a0 N. \u00a0 Esowe \u00a0 of \u00a0 the \u00a0 National \u00a0 Industrial \u00a0 Court \u00a0 of Nigeria, Hon. Justice Adolphus Enebeli of the High Court of Justice, Rivers State and Hon. Justice Bassey Frank Etuk of the Akwa-Ibom State High Court for different offences and place two of them on the \u201cWatch List\u201d of the Council.
\n4. Council\u2019s decision to give Hon. Justice Esowe a serious warning and put her on its \u201cWatch List\u201d for one year, \u00a0was\u00a0sequel to a petition written against her by Mr. Jimmy Dirisu Aliu, alleging injustice for failing to deliver ruling in Suit No.NICN\/ABJ\/394\/2013, until Eight (8) months after \u00a0 the final address of counsel on Notice of Preliminary objection to his Suit.5.
\nCouncil \u00a0 also \u00a0 decided \u00a0 to \u00a0 give \u00a0 Hon. \u00a0 Justice \u00a0 Adolphus Enebeli serious warning and place him on its \u201cWatch-List\u201d for three years following its \u2018findings\u2019 that Hon. Justice Enebeli violated \u00a0 the \u00a0 Code \u00a0 of \u00a0 Conduct \u00a0 for \u00a0 Judicial \u00a0 Officers \u00a0 of \u00a0 the Federal Republic of Nigeria by granting ex-parte order in Suit No. \u00a0 PHC\/983\/2016, \u00a0 preventing \u00a0 the \u00a0 swearing-in \u00a0 of \u00a0Victoria Wodo \u00a0 Nyeche \u00a0 as \u00a0 a \u00a0 member \u00a0 of \u00a0 the \u00a0 Rivers \u00a0 State \u00a0 House \u00a0 of Assembly, \u00a0 when \u00a0the \u00a0 claim \u00a0 in \u00a0 the \u00a0 Suit \u00a0 did \u00a0 not \u00a0 border \u00a0on qualification or pre-election matter. The Hon. Judge was said to have granted the ex-parte order on 19th April, 2016, three days to the swearing-in ceremony and adjourned the case to 21st April, 2016 when the ceremony had been concluded.
\n6. Hon. Justice Bassey Frank Etuk was warned following a petition \u00a0 written \u00a0 against \u00a0 him \u00a0 by \u00a0 Oro \u00a0Youth \u00a0 Movement \u00a0 for failure to deliver judgment in Suit No. HOR\/FHC\/97\/2014, a Fundamental Human Right case, after hearing it to conclusion and adjourned same for judgment to the 8th \u00a0June, 2015. The Hon. \u00a0 Judge \u00a0 then \u00a0 proceeded \u00a0 on \u00a0 National \u00a0 assignment \u00a0 as \u00a0 an Election \u00a0 Petition \u00a0 Tribunal \u00a0 member \u00a0 and \u00a0 did \u00a0 not \u00a0deliver \u00a0the judgment even after his return in November, 2015, when he transferred the case file to the Chief Judge for it to start de-novo. The Suit was filed by two officers of the Movement to prevent the police from arresting them after they were reported for embezzling \u00a0 the \u00a0 sum \u00a0 of \u00a0 N20, \u00a0 000.000.00 \u00a0 (Twenty \u00a0 Million Naira) from the account of the movement.
\n7. The decision of the Council is with immediate effect.
\n8. Council also considered and dismissed petitions written against twelve other Judicial Officers.
\n9. Council dismissed the petitions because three (3) of the Petitioners withdrew their petitions against Hon. Justice T. U.Uzokwe, Chief Judge, Abia State, Hon. Justice Okoroafor of the Abia State High Court and Hon. Justice Judge Okeke of the FCT High Court of Justice.
\n10. One petition written against Hon. H. A. Nganjiwa of theFederal High Court was also dismissed for subjudice.
\n11. Other \u00a0 petitions \u00a0 written \u00a0 against \u00a0 Hon. \u00a0 Justices \u00a0 Adamu Abdu-Kafarati and O. E. Abang, \u00a0 both \u00a0 of \u00a0 the \u00a0 Federal \u00a0 High Court, Hon. Justices Mobolaji Ojo, and E. O. Osinuga, both of the Ogun State High Court, Hon. Justice B. A. Oke-Lawal of Lagos State High Court, Hon. Justice A. A. Aderemi of Oyo State, Ntong F. Ntong of Akwa-Ibom State High Court and the second \u00a0 petition \u00a0 written \u00a0 against \u00a0 Hon. \u00a0 Justice \u00a0 Bassey \u00a0 Frank.
\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PRESS RELEASE. By Soji Oye, Esq,\u00a0Director, Information, National Judicial Council (NJC). The \u00a0 National \u00a0 Judicial \u00a0 Council, \u00a0 under \u00a0 the \u00a0 Chairmanship \u00a0 of Hon. \u00a0 Justice \u00a0 Walter. \u00a0 S. \u00a0 N. \u00a0 Onnoghen, \u00a0 GCON, \u00a0 at \u00a0 its \u00a082nd Meeting \u00a0 which \u00a0 was \u00a0 held \u00a0 on \u00a0 31st […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":2810,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2809"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2809\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}