COTRIMCO Zone C tours Southwest judiciary, says sanctions await judges that fail in quarterly returns

As part of efforts to solve issues that mitigate the smooth justice delivery and tackle effectively issues of concern in the judiciary sector, the Sub-Committee of Zone C of the Corruption and Financial Crimes Cases Trial Monitoring Committee (COTRIMCO) headed by the Chief Judge of Oyo State, Justice Munta Ladipo Abimbola has commenced a tour of states that fall under Zone C.

COTRIMCO was set up by the former Chief Justice of Nigeria to monitor cases in court and interact with the designated judges handling corruption and financial crimes cases following continuous complaints from the public that the judiciary is responsible for delays in the trial of corruption and financial crimes cases.

In response to continuous complaints and in a bid to proactively stem all issues, Zone C of COTRIMCO which is in charge of the Southern States has embarked on a tour to the judiciary of Oyo, Ogun, Osun, Ekiti and Ondo states.

The Sub-Committee comprises Hon. Justice M. L. Abimbola as Chairman, Dr Garba Tetengi, (SAN) and Mr A. B. Mahmoud as members while Onah Isaac Owoka, Esq is the Secretary and Soyi Oye, Esq, is the Director of Information,.

The Sub-Committee informed judges that there was a need for them to quarterly submit their returns with strict adherence to the template submitted to them as the submitted returns would be assessed quarterly by the committee at the plenary.

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They were informed that failure to submit as and when due may attract sanctions but regular submission may earn them commendations.

The judges also complained of insufficient prosecuting counsels from the EFCC as 10 prosecutors covered the five states visited.

They further complained of the scarcity of handwriting experts and asked for training and retraining of prosecution counsels because several counts in charges filed before the courts end up being unsubstantiated.

The judges also complained that witnesses, exhibits, number of SANs that are usually briefed to represent defendants in corruption and financial crimes cases do not help matters, observing that delays in such cases are caused by all parties involved in the prosecution and called for synergy amongst the parties.

The Sub-Committee assured the judges that the issue shall be brought before the plenary for consideration. However, they were advised to ensure that their quarterly returns were sent to the committee timely.