The National Judicial Council (NJC) may today make an announcement asking Justice Isa Ayo Salami to resume as President of the Court of Appeal, following a two-day meeting that discussed his suspension and the trailing controversy.
Judiciary sources said with the court ruling earlier in the week in favour of Salami in the case regarding his removal, the council decided to recall him and order the payment of all his entitlements due during the period of his suspension. No official announcement was made yesterday after the meeting of the NJC, which is headed by Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) Justice Aloma Maryam Mukhtar.
Private television station AIT last night run a news bar announcing the recall of Salami. The station said he was asked to resume immediately and arrears of his salaries and allowances would be paid.
Also, the Nigerian Television Authority reported the conclusion of the NJC meeting on the Salami matter, and said there were speculations that the council might have resolved to end his suspension.
But when contacted, NJC spokesman Mr. Soji Oye told Daily Trust last night he was not aware of Salami's recall and that if this were to happen a statement would be issued to that effect.
It was not clear how NJC intends to implement the recall of Salami now, because when the council first recalled him on May 10 President Goodluck Jonathan refused to effect a reinstatement citing subsisting court cases on the matter.
Daily Trust could not confirm last night if all the cases related to the issue were disposed of.
The constitution empowers NJC to make recommendation to the president for the appointment and removal of certain judiciary officers including the appeal court president.
The Salami suspension saga began on August 18 last year in the wake of his tussle with then-Chief Justice of Nigeria Aloysius Katsina-Alu.
NJC suspended him because he refused to apologise for publicly accusing Katsina-Alu of trying to influence the appeal court judgement on the Sokoto governorship election case, an allegation the council said could not be substantiated.
Salami came public with the allegation after the then CJN nominated him to the Supreme Court, which he said was an attempt to ease him out from the Court of Appeal.
If Salami's recall is confirmed, he will have just a year to stay as court of appeal president. According to information on the Federal Judicial Service Commission's website, Salami was born on October 15, 1943, so he would be retiring by October 14 next year when he would have attained the retirement age of 70.
Daily Trust