NBA, others caution against retiring Salami

[TGD]

 PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan has been cautioned against flouting the rule of law by acting on the recommendations of the National Judicial Council (NJC) that the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Ayo Salami, be retired following his face off with the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Aphonsus Katsina-Alu.

The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), which gave the advice yesterday, also directed lawyers in the country, including those to be conferred the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) to stay away from the swearing in ceremony slated for Friday.

According to the NBA National Executive Committee, President Jonathan should not implement the recommendations of the National Judicial Council (NJC) seeking the retirement of Salami because a matter is already pending in court.

NBA berated the NJC for thinking it can ride roughshod over the process of court by suspending the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Salami, after he had filed a suit to challenge disciplinary recommendations of the council in the dispute between Salami and Katsina-Alu.

Speaking yesterday in Port Harcourt, Rivers State during NEC meeting of the NBA, president of the association, Joseph Bodunrin Daudu (SAN) said the decision of the CJN to fix the swearing in on the closing ceremony of the association's annul conference is an affront and disrespect to the entire Bar.

Daudu explained that he had in February notified Katsina-Alu of NBA's conference and he was aware that 19th September had earlier been selected as the date for the swearing in ceremony of new SANs. According to him, the September date was an appropriate date as it is traditional to swear in new SANs at the opening of new year.

The NEC hence decided that the Bar shall boycott the ceremony and all her members, including those to be conferred with the rank of SAN, advised to stay away. It was resolved that any legal practitioner that attends the ceremony would not be referred to by members of the NBA with any rank he possesses.

Similarly, if the person is in any NBA body such as the Body of Benchers, he would lose all privileges and be stripped of membership of any committee or body that the NBA participates in. The NBA, therefore urged the Chief Justice to shift the ceremony to the earlier September 19th date.

On the NJC handling of the face off between Salami and Katsina-Alu,  the NBA president said it was wrong for the NJC to proceed with suspending Justice Salami while his case is pending in court.

The NBA President noted that nowhere in Section 158 of the 1999 Constitution allows the NJC to proceed with the action it took regardless of the pendency of court proceedings. According to him, the aforementioned Section is not an ouster clause to the powers of the court to intervene and correct any perceived error made by the NJC which has provided a cause of action to the injured party.

He insisted that Section 6 (1) of the 1999 Constitution explicitly provides that the judicial powers of the federation shall be vested in the courts. According to him, if the framers of the Constitution had wanted to exclude courts from interfering in the process of the NJC, it would have been expressly said in Section 158 of the said constitution.

Consequently, he pointed out, the matter was clearly subjudice when the NJC proceeded with its action on the 18th of August to suspend Justice Salami. "It is a matter of great regret and shame that a judicial organisation of the calibre of the NJC can ride roughshod over the processes of a court of law. The implication for Nigerian judicial process is catastrophic. If not remedied, we are witnessing the slide into anarchy and lawlessness which history will record as having been fired up by the judiciary," Daudu said.

According to him, NBA would not sit idle and watch the legal profession ridiculed and brought into disrepute in the public domain.

He recommended that the NBA withdraw its members from the NJC pending when appropriate amendments to the Constitution would be made inter alia; increasing NBA membership from five to 10.

Another condition given was the restructuring of the NJC membership and functions in such a way to make the body functional and less prone to dictatorship and abuse of power.

Similarly, the Lagos branch chairman of the NBA, Mr. Taiwo Taiwo and his counterpart in Ekiti State, Mr. Owoseeni Ajayi cautioned President Jonathan against implementing the NJC's recommendation. According to them, retiring Salami over the crisis will be prejudicial and tarnish the powers of the court when Salami had already gone to court to challenge his suspension.

After his suspension by the NJC over refusal to apologise to Katsina-Alu for allegedly lying on oath against the CJN, Salami approached the court, saying he was not given fair-hearing by the Justice Umaru Abdulahi-led probe panel that investigated the alleged misconduct.

The Ekiti NBA chairman argued: "Mr. President cannot do anything now unless he is ready to trample on the powers of the court and the Rule of Law. Justice Salami is in court to challenge his suspension and his forceful retirement from the service when he is not due for retirement.

"It is obvious to Nigerians that Justice Salami is not due for retirement and he had gone to court to challenge same, so the President is seriously restrained from acting, pending the determination of his case in court."

The NBA boss expatiated further that, "the President does not even have the unilateral powers to sack Justice Salami. President Jonathan will have to send such recommendation to the Senate and passed by two thirds majority of members before it can become an order".

Taiwo who described the crisis at the top echelon of the judiciary will affect the integrity of the judiciary, said the role of NJC in the matter must be limited to its constitutional responsibility, and not to go beyond what the constitution says.

According to the Lagos NBA chairman, asking somebody to apologise is not justice, "you must say what he did before asking him to apologise.

"The point I am making is that the role of the NJC in this matter should be limited as in any judicial matter. Don't forget that most of those involved in this matter are members of the NJC. So, you cannot be a judge in your own court. When a person who is part of the problem sits on a problem against another person who is also part of that problem and also part of that body, where do we go from here?" he queried.

In its reaction, the Action Congress of Nigeria (CAN) faulted the recommendation of the NJC on Salami, saying:

''NJC, more than any other body, ought to know that in accordance with Section 292 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the President of the Court of Appeal is among the judicial officers who can only be removed by the President, acting on an address supported by two-thirds majority of the Senate.

 



The Guardian