Delayed justice and buck-passing by CJN

The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Aloma Mariam Mukhtar, recently challenged the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke, to demonstrate the political will to prosecute high profile cases in the country. Speaking recently at the occasion that marked the commencement of the 2012/13 legal year, which also witnessed the inauguration of 125 new Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs) at the nation’s Supreme Court in Abuja, Mukhtar, in addition, advised state governors to stop treating the judiciary as an appendage of the executive arm of government. It seems obvious that the CJN’s public buck-passing was in response to the barrage of criticisms trailing the judiciary as the main culprit in the protracted delay and lethargy that have become the hallmarks of the prosecution of graft and high profile cases. The CJN said the “Constitution provides that the Office of the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, as the Chief Law Officer of the Federation, has the power to institute, undertake, take over, continue or discontinue criminal proceedings before the courts of law in Nigeria in respect of offences created under the Act of the National Assembly.