Former President of the Court of Appeal Justice Ayo Salami (retd) has rejected his appointment as the Chairman of the Corruption and Financial Crime Cases Trial Monitoring Committee (COTRIMCO), The Nation reports.

Justice Salami was named the chair of COTRIMCO, which was set up by the National Judicial Council (NJC,) on September 27.

According to The Nation, Justice Salami is uncomfortable with the composition of the 15-man committee.

The panel has some members who had been implicated in some conflicting challenges between the bench and the bar.

It was gathered that Salami rejected his appointment after discussing his reservations with Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen.

A Supreme Court source said “I think Salami felt that a few members of the committee had been entrenched in the intrigues in the nation’s Judiciary.

“He believes that as the chairman of the committee, he will not have the authority to keep those members in check.

“So, instead of creating unnecessary problem for himself without any place to run to, he opted to stay away from the committee.

“In fact, while he was still being asked by colleagues to give the appointment a chance, there was controversy over the reinstatement of a former chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Pension Reforms Task Team, Mr. Abdulrasheed Abdullahi Maina. Salami just said he won’t accept this offer.

“He, however, took time to meet with the CJN personally to thank him for the honour and why he cannot accept the job. He made it known that he had no grudges against the CJN.”

Azeez