COVID-19 impact
Unsure of how to proceed with normal court businesses at the advent of the coronavirus pandemic, most court heads directed shutdown for the first two weeks or more in March this year.
Subsequently, after the Federal Government, through the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 made public the COVID – Regulations 2020, the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Ibrahim Muhammad took the initiative, in his capacity as the head of the judicial arm of government, to direct courts’ heads to scale down court activities as a measure to curb the spread of the virus.
In a circular, marked: NJC/CIR/HOC/11/631 issued on March 23, 2020, the CJN advised courts’ heads to still continue to hear certain cases while keeping social distancing and wearing face masks among other anti-COVID-19 measures.
Ex-CJN Onnoghen marks quiet 70th birthday on projected retirement day
Ade Adesomoju, Abuja
The immediate-past Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen, clocked 70 on Tuesday, the day he would have retired if his tenure had run in full.
He marked the birthday with a few guests on his premises in Asokoro, Abuja, in the absence of the great pomp that would have characterised such an event involving a retiring CJN.
Onnoghen’s tenure as the CJN and his career on the bench was cut short by a controversial ex parte order issued by the Code of Conduct Tribunal in January 2019 preparatory to his trial on charges of non-declaration of assets.