The Chief Justice of Nigeria and Chairman of the National Judicial Council, Tanko Muhammed, has extended the “Suspension of Court Sittings till further notice.”
The directive was contained in a circular entitled, “Re: Preventive measures on the spread of corona virus (COVID-19) and the protection of justices, judges and staff of courts,” made available to KAFTAN Post on Monday evening.
According to the CJN, the extension is necessary because of the measures in place to fight Coronavirus pandemic.
The Chief Justice’s statement explained that “in view of the fact that the initial two weeks suspension of courts sittings will expire on 7th April 2020, I hereby extend the suspension of court sittings till further notice, given the lockdown measure put in place by Federal and some state governments to curb the spread of COVID-19”.
Despite the extension, the CJN said courts would sit for urgent and time-bound matters.
The CJN added that “Your lordships are, however, to note that courts are expected to sit particularly to dispense matters that are urgent, essential or time-bound in line with our extant laws,”.
It would be recalled that the Chief Justice of Nigeria had on Tuesday March 24th directed all heads of courts to suspend sittings for an initial two weeks period.
He gave the directive as part of efforts to curb the spread of the deadly coronavirus in the court.
