Salami ‘rejects appointment’ to oversee corruption cases

Ayo Salami, former president of the court of appeal (PCA), has rejected his appointment as chairman of the Corruption and Financial Crime Cases Trial Monitoring Committee (COTRIMCO), according to The Nation.

The National Judicial Council (NJC) led by Walter Onnoghen chief justice of Nigeria (CJN), had named Salami as head of the committee.

In his independence day broadcast, Buhari had said he was expecting a lot from the committee.

The newspaper said Salami might have been convinced that the committee may not work as “efficiently expected”.

Salami is said to have consulted widely with leaders on the Bench and in the Bar before resolving with his family to reject the offer.

“I think Salami felt that a few members of the committee had been entrenched in the intrigues in the nation’s judiciary,” the newspaper quoted a source as saying.

“He believes that as the chairman of the committee, he will not have the authority to keep those members in check.

“So, instead of creating an unnecessary problem for himself without any place to run to, he opted to stay away from the committee.

“In fact, while he was still being asked by colleagues to give the appointment a chance, there was controversy over the reinstatement of a former chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Pension Reforms Task Team, Mr. Abdulrasheed Abdullahi Maina. Salami just said he won’t accept this offer.

“He, however, took time to meet with the CJN personally to thank him for the honour and why he cannot accept the job. He made it known that he had no grudges against the CJN.”