NJC to probe 15 high court judges over ‘misconduct’

The National Judicial Council (NJC) has set up committees to investigate allegations of misconduct against 15 judicial officers.

According to a statement on Friday by Soji Oye, NJC director of information, the decision was reached during the council’s 99th meeting held on November 30 and December 1, 2022.

The judges are those of federal and state high courts.

The probe panels are to determine the culpability of the judges following various petitions filed against them by individuals and corporate bodies.

“The decision is sequel to the submission of recommendations of three preliminary complaint assessment committees which considered 66 petitions forwarded to them by the council from all over the federation,” the statement reads.

“The council, however, dismissed the petitions against 51 judicial officers of the federal and state high courts for either lack of merit, being subjudice, or being matters for appeal or that the concerned judge has retired from service.”

The statement, however, did not name the judges to be probed, their divisions, or the specific nature of their alleged offences.

The development comes amid concerns raised over conflicting court judgments in recent months.

In August 2021, Ibrahim Muhammad, chief justice of Nigeria (CJN) at the time, had summoned six judges to explain conflicting court orders over cases involving the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and All Progressives Congress (APC).

In December 2021, the NJC had barred three judges from promotion over conflicting orders on a crisis in the PDP at the time.

Meanwhile, in May 2022, the NJC had issued new guidelines on election-related cases as part of efforts “to forestall conflicting judgments”.