/ 5 December 2001

OBASANJO CRACKS THE WHIP

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has sacked a senior judge of the federal high court for ‘gross misconduct’, the presidency announced late Monday. Obasanjo approved the dismissal of Justice C.C. Nwaogwugwu following complaints of improper conduct in four cases sent before him last year, Obasanjo’s office said in a statement. A panel of inquiry had found that in the four cases, Nwaogwugwu “exercised jurisdiction where he had none and therefore had committed gross misconduct,” Obasanjo’s office said. Campaigners for judicial reform have for months been critical of what they see as the government’s failure to tackle acknowledged corruption and abuse of process in the judiciary and have called for sweeping reforms. – AFP