Ebun Francis || Retired Justice Ayo Salami, the former President of the court of appeal has been appointed chairman of corruption and financial crime cases trial monitoring committee (COTRIMCO) by the National Judicial Council (NJC).
The spokesperson for the NJC, Soji Oye, said in a statement that the decision to appoint the retired Justice and other members of the committee was taken at the 82nd council meeting of the NJC.
According to Oye, “The committee’s primary functions include – regular monitoring and evaluation of proceedings at designated courts for financial and economic crimes nationwide. Advising the chief justice of Nigeria on how to eliminate delay in the trial of alleged corruption cases.”
“Giving feedback to the council on progress of cases in the designated courts, conduct background checks on judges selected for the designated courts and evaluating the performance of the designated courts.
“It will be recalled that the chief justice of Nigeria in his speech at the special session of the supreme court of Nigeria to mark the commencement of the 2017/2018 legal year, emphasised on the concerns expressed by members of the public on the very slow speed with which corruption cases were being heard or determined by the court.”
Other members of the committee are; Kashim Zannah, chief judge of Borno; P.O. Nnadi, chief judge of Imo; Marsahal Umukoro, chief judge of Delta; M. L. Abimbola, Chief Judge of Oyo; and A.B Mahmoud, president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA).
Others are; Wole Olanipekun, a former NBA president; Olisa Agbakoba, J.B Daudu, Augustine Alegeh SAN, Garba Tetengi, R.I Inga, Gambo Saleh and representatives of ministry of justice, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN).