Justice Salami’s Tortuous Path to Fame – By Philips Akpoviri

Posted by admin Articles, Columnists, Judiciary, NNP Columnists, Philips Akpoviri. Sunday, August 28th, 2011

Justice Salami

By Philips AKPOVIRI, NNP – August 28, 2011 –

The free-for-all battle between Justice Aloysius Katsina-Alu, the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) and Justice Isa Ayo Salami, the President of the Court of Appeal (PCA) has reached its final albeit weirdly illogical conclusion: the honourable Justice Salami has been suspended by his contemporaries in the National Judicial Council (NJC) and evicted from office by President Goodluck Jonathan.

I will be forward here to declare that I have since queued behind the gritty Justice Salami in his tribulations occasioned by his dangerous determination to expose corruption in high places. One sees him as an unsuspecting victim of political duplicity, because just like a few other Nigerians who naively take the words of politicians seriously, Justice Salami got carried away by the deafening anti-corruption song blaring out of Aso Rock. Following the lyrics of this motivating but ill-intentioned song, he moved so high to turn words into action by battling corruption in very high places with all his might but little did he know that he would sooner rather than later add his career and reputation to that – and would be repudiated by the very artists and producers of the sweet song. O’ no dear Justice Salami!

It all started with the Sokoto State 2007 ubernatorial election legal tussle between the incumbent PDP governor and his ACN challenger. The case has since been concluded in favour of the PDP chieftainas expected but not without a few yet-to-be-resolved controversies. Chief among which is the unexplained fact that the final determining judgement was not passed by the Appeal Court as stipulated in the country’s constitution (at that time) but, and shockingly so, by the Supreme Court headed by the accused, Justice Katsina-Alu.

By the way, the office of the President of the Appeal Court is by no means just any other office; it’s one stool that needs an occupant who is sane enough to not enjoy blabbing; modest enough to avoid cheap popularity by crying wolf where none is within sight, and who is rational enough to avoid deriving any pleasure by mortifying his boss. The holder of such an esteemed office must be a noble and honourable personality whose words we can take to the bank.

So I picked more than a normal attention to Justice Salami’s incredible revelation that the CJN mounted immense pressure on him to make the said law case go in the way of the ruling PDP-affiliated incumbent governor. A pressure Salami withstood and never yielded to. The CJN, sensing the impending victory of the ACN candidate at the Appeal Court, reportedly shunted the judicial process as he abruptly yanked off the PCA of his duties; disregarded his panel, and adopted the case. This done, there was bound to be only one outcome: victory for the ruling PDP.

It didn’t end there. The CJN again made substantial efforts to strip the PCA of his enormous powers for good by ‘elevating’ him to the Supreme Court (to become the apex court’s newest, least powerful and most junior member). A banal position relative to Salami’s then incumbent office where heheaded the second most powerful court in the country, and served as the second most senior judicial officer in the country’s legal hierarchy. In fact, it was this suspicious promotion that prompted Salami to premiere this strange Nollywood movie that would have been more enjoyable if Pete Edochie and Olu Jacobs rather than Salami and Katsina-Alu were the lead characters. This scene ended with the dogged Salami successfully retaining his stool as the PCA.

Before the thick dusts settled down, the media became awash with new sets of allegations, this time against Salami. These came from PDP chieftains in some states where Salami’s Appeal Court had successfully thrown out PDP governors in favour of the opposition parties’ candidates following years of legal battle. They accused Salami of doing the bidding of the South-West controlled Action Congress of Nigeria party and in particular, dancing to the tunes of the Yoruba nation’s most powerful politician alive, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.

One is not a judge, but if I were asked, it would have come as a no surprise had the PDP lost 20 of the 36 state gubernatorial election legal brawls. Nigerians even with our chronic proclivity to forget events cannot help but remember the 2007 ‘‘Do or Die’’ sham called elections superintended over by the infamous Professor Maurice Iwu where he almost singlehandedly railroaded the entire nation into the theatre of talks called PDP. Only few would disagree that this party almost never won any state freely and fairly in 2007. So, it makes no sense for the PDP in Ekiti, Osun, and such other places to sound maligned and oppressed. Truth is, when a wise thief loses a stolen item he does not scream thief! Ole!! Thief!!!

My opinion notwithstanding, following all the controversies, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) set up a panel of enquiry to look into the issues squarely and fairly. The NJC did same. As normal with Nigeria, more controversies would erupt from this. After all the submissions, investigations, interrogations, and all such processes, the NBA panel indicted the CJN and absolved the PCA of any misconduct. Conversely, the NJC panel cleared the CJN of any wrongdoing but accused the PCA of misconduct. In the final analysis, the NJC warned the PCA and directed him to apologise to the CJN within seven days, an apology which would in effect make Justice Salami liable to grave legal penalties thereafter following libel and perjury since it would make his bold corruption revelations as untrue, baseless, unreal, and defamatory.

Trust the brave Salami. His types are rare and that is if they still exist. He defiantly swept the NJC’sunethical recommendation to the nearest trash can and bent over to start a fresh legal battle this time against the very ‘owners’ of the law. Seeing the posture of Salami and the strong body language it connotes to the Nigerian public coupled with the concrete determination to play out a suspicious script, the NJC met yet again to demonise Salami, and expressly recommended his outright removal from office and immediate mandatory retirement to the President. And with PDP in power, only one outcome was sure. Aso Rock has since “suspended” (the word suspension in effect means sacked because in Nigeria semantics is everything) Justice Salami from office and named his replacement who has since been sworn into office.

It is noteworthy that NJC’s recommendation for Salami’s removal from office and his dishonourable sudden retirement was taken in the face of Salami’s suit against the controversial decision. Salami had gone to court to contest the NJC’sshamefulimmediate mandatory recommendation yet they (NJC) the supposed pinnacle of the rule of law disregarded the suit and proceeded to do what they deemed fit. I read at a point that they discarded Salami’s suit over his failure to append his signature to the suit or so. This simply cannot be true as Salami – the President of the Court of Appeal – cannot fall for such school boy errors. Even if this were true, the NJC is anorganisation of judges and senior lawyers but as much as I know, only a competent court of law can strike out a law suit.

I need not study law to know that the NJC is not a law court, yet they threw out a law suit raised by no less a man as the PCA – the second most powerful law professional in the country, andblatantly proceeded to suspend the same fellow. They did not stop here. They also raised and forwarded a correspondence to the President to order the immediate removal of the PCA from office complete with his mandatory retirement from service.

A few days from today, Justice Aloysius Katsina-Alu will retire from service as he will attain the mandatory retirement age this month. Rumours have it that it is for this reason that the stubborn anti-Establishment Salami must be removed from office at all cost – the same rationale behind his attempted ‘promotion’ out of his commanding position some months ago.

It’s saddening but this is Nigeria. This is my dear sorry country where only hypocrites confidently say la vie est belle even when the righteous are persecuted. This is a nation where your friends and contemporaries blame you and dump you for saying nothing but the truth. This is a land where logic almost never ceases to stand on its head.A disjointed country standing downside up. It’s such a shame!

I will not end this piece without commending the President and members of the NBA. I praise the courage and bravery of Barrister B. Dawodu and his colleagues at the Bar in the face of pure undeniable persecution of a man who though is not a member of the Bar, but a role model for all judges, shining light for all NJC members, fearless promoter of the rule of law, enhancer of faith in the judiciary amongst the browbeaten Nigerian citizenry and mentor to all aspiring legal practitioners.

I vehemently support the pro-Salami campaign just as I unequivocally condemn the all-powerful cabal over their sinister machinations, but this is Nigeria. It is very unlikely that Salami’s removal and mandatory retirement would be reversed. It’s almost impossible to believe that the damage done to Salami’s career would ever be appropriately remedied. One is not even sure if another judge would rise any time soon to confront the powers that beas Salami did having witnessed the seemingly inglorious anti-climax of this case.

But one thing is sure, the author, like many other Nigerians see Justice Isa Ayo Salami as a fearless judge who: bravely stood for what he believed; clearly expressed what he knew; never gave in to intimidation at the expense of true justice;saw no sense in tendering apology when the reverse should be the case, and the new symbol for anti-corruption in high places in the corruption infested geographical space called Nigeria.

Lastly, to the family, friends and subordinates of Justice Salami, I say be not ashamed of the dishonourable end to his career. He was only used as a scapegoat by the powers that be to effectively caution against confronting The Establishment, but by this act of theirs, they have inadvertently presented him as the sacrificial lamb that exposed the rot in very high places, the banality in the anti-corruption rhetoric of President Jonathan and the ruling party, and the putrefaction in the nation’s judiciary – the now defunct beacon of hope for the now hopeless oppressed common man.

PHILIPS AKPOVIRI

Nigeria, August 24, 2011

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Short URL: https://newnigerianpolitics.com/?p=12182

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