CJN summons heads of courts over conflicting orders

By our reporter/ The Chief Judges of Rivers, Kebbi, Cross River, Anambra, Jigawa and Imo State were on Monday summoned to an emergency meeting by The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) and Chairman of the National Judicial Council, (NJC), Justice Tanko Muhammad

The summoning of the justices followed  the recent wave of embarrassing and conflicting exparte orders emanating from judges in their jurisdictions.

In a letter of invitation dated 30th of August, 2021, the CJN summoned the head of the concerned courts to the emergency meeting to brief him on the incessant granting of the conflicting orders on suits instituted by different political parties before the various courts.

“My attention has been drawn to media reports to the effect that some courts of coordinate jurisdictions were granting conflicting exparte orders on the same subject matter. It has become expedient for me to invite you for a detailed briefing on the development. This is even more compelling having regard to an earlier NJC warning to judicial officers on the need to be circumspect in grating exparte applications,” the letter read in part.

Soji Oye, the Spokesperson of the NJC, who confirmed the development, however, declined to disclose the day for the meeting except to say the meeting will hold during the week.

The meeting between the CJN and the Heads of Courts concerned, according to sources, is a prelude to a larger NJC meeting likely to hold next week as the leadership of the judiciary grapple with the embarrassement at the recent judicial pronouncements by courts acrross the country.