Salami’s Travails, PDP Justices’ Sour Grapes

by Michael Oluwagbemi II

Irrespective

of the claims of the ruling party, it is clear sour grapes on the

democratization of Nigeria following their 2007 rape of our democracy

is really the root cause of the current show of shame in our

judiciary. It is really a sad day for democracy and our corporate

existence, when the last bastion of the common man is behind dragged

through public mud by dirty men whose hands are unclean.

The

facts of the case are simple; and for posterity here they are just in

case you my reader is beginning to get befuddled by the maze of

judicial heresy now going on and intentionally perpetuated by the

double dealers to confuse us.

  1. In

    the 2007 general elections, the

    PDP rigged itself into power across the country. This is an

    indisputable fact that international observers agreed with; an

    assessment that even the then chief beneficiaries (the current

    President inclusive) agreed generally with. Nowhere was the rigging

    more brazen than the South West region of Nigeria.

  2. A

    spurious Appeal Court ruling however disagreed; the

    Supreme Court upheld this anomaly. There were allegations of

    massive bribing of Justices sitting on the highest court in

    the now infamous Wiki Leaks cables. There is no smoke without

    fire.

  3. The

    Court of Appeal led by Justice Salami constituted state elections

    petition tribunals that led to a series of reversals across Nigeria.

    This of course saw to PDP losing its grip on the hotbed of Nigerian

    politics: South West.

  4. Clearly,

    PDP saw this as an affront and began a campaign against the

    Presidency of Justice Salami. As usual, they carrot was offered

    before the stick. Enter, the surprise promotion to the Supreme Court

    at the eve of the current dispensation by the compromised Chief

    Justice of Nigeria: Justice Katsina-Alu. The Justice seeing through

    their ploy, publicly

    rejected this especially given the complicity of the NJC (National

    Judicial Council) in approving the said appointment against

    protocol!

  5. Justice

    Salami’s public rejection opened up a can of worms exposing the

    underbelly of the judiciary for the first time; clearly the Supreme

    Court was compromised. He of course alleged the Chief Justice had

    asked him to pervert justice in the Sokoto case.

  6. Two

    panels were simultaneously set up to look into Justice Salami’s

    grave accusations; one by the body of benchers led by the National

    Judicial Council (NJC) and another by the bar constituted by the

    NBA. The NJC is a

    creation of the constitution.

  7. While

    the NJC panel allowed

    counter-allegations by totally unrelated third party (i.e.

    removed Southwest PDP governors) that Justice Salami was a friend of

    the opposition as evidenced by call-logs now

    famously disowned by the mobile operators, the NBA panel focused

    on the allegation of “cross-benching” and unethical interference

    by the Appeal Court President against the Supreme Court Chief

    Justice. One begins to wonder on what grounds deposed illegal

    governor of Ekiti Oni was appearing at the NJC panel.

  8. The

    two panels reached radically different conclusions. The NJC panel

    somehow arrived at the conclusion that Justice Salami

    was somehow friendly with the opposition Action Congress Nigeria

    without telling us how; while rejecting the validity of the call

    logs as a basis of evidence. Can someone say muddling? They also

    accused Justice Salami of perjury and required an apology for a

    crime that carries a fourteen years sentence! The

    NBA panel indicted Chief Justice Katsina-Alu for interference.

    How so?

  9. One

    of the lead witness against Justice Salami at the NJC (Justice

    Dahiru Musdapher )

    also presided

    upon this judicial anomaly at the NJC. Clearly the NJC was no

    neutral arbiter, its original plan of promoting Justice Salami

    having been spurned and starting the chaos.

  10. Justice

    Salami sought redress from the court; seeking a stay of the report

    of the NJC which otherwise was binding. A service was ordered by the

    court while the NJC, a body supposedly of the highest rank of

    jurists, refused

    to get served.

  11. Just

    about the deadline, 8

    of 23 NJC members sitting voted (5 -3) to suspend the President of

    the Court of Appeals when two-thirds was required. Now clearly a

    judge in its own case!

  12. Within

    twenty-hours, without even allowing the pending court cases to

    settle, the PDP President Goodluck Jonathan and chief beneficiary of

    judicial bribery confessed to American diplomats, acting in

    coordination with the NJC filled

    the so called “vacant” position of the President of the Court of

    Appeal. Shame.

Another

curious fact that needs to be explored was that in between the

sitting of the NJC to determine this illegal suspension, since the

NJC can only truly recommend discipline going by the letters of the

constitution and not actually implement one, the PCA lost his

security. I bet there was some level of “executive coordination”!

Certainly,

the position of the legislature the only body vested with the power

to impeach Justices will be known in the next few weeks; only then

will the show of shame by our body of jurists with the connivance of

a shameless executive and a clueless President be either brought to

an end or allowed to fester as our nation becomes a true laughing

stock!

It

gives one shudder that an eminent jurist in the person of Justice

Salami who leads the nation second highest court can be made to pay

the price for forthrightness by the powers that be, who now seek so

hard to sully the man’s hard earned reputation when clearly they

have none. It is certainly a sad day in Nigeria, and the President of

the republic should know better than become a participant in this

foolhardy charade! We are all made unsafe by this show of shame.

In

any case, nothing but the resignation of the current Chief Justice

will restore the leadership that the nation’s judiciary currently

requires. I hope reason prevails, and there are few old men left in

our village. Whatever happened to superior judicial temperament

anyway?

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