PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari, on Monday, assured the judicial community that the recent investigations involving some judicial staff were not aimed at intimidating the judiciary as wrongly portrayed in some sections of the media. The president, who stated this while declaring open 2017 All Nigerian Judges Conference held at the National Judicial Institute, Abuja, further maintained that the action was in no way a prelude to usurping the powers of the National Judicial Council. The president stressed the need for fairness, impartiality, and speed in the administration of justice by the judiciary. He also noted that there were backlogs of cases waiting to be dispensed, especially at the appellate levels. He said the reform of the judiciary should start “by eliminating the seemingly endless delays in settling what to the layman apparently simple cases are.”

Source: Nigerian Tribune November 21, 2017 13:16 UTC