HUMAN rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana, has advised President Goodluck Jonathans to ignore the recommendations of the National Judicial Council asking the President to approve the retirement of President, Court of Appeal, Justice Ayo Salami.
Falana, who said this in a statement on Sunday, argued that the NJC’s suspension of Salami and the advice that he should be retired were illegal, unconstitutional and contemptuous.
He said, “By virtue of section 292(1) of the Constitution, the President of the Court of Appeal can only be removed from office by the President acting on an address supported by two-third of the Senate. Apart from recommending to the President of Nigeria the removal of the President of the Court of Appeal, the National Judicial Council lacks the power to remove him through suspension from office. By suspending Justice Salami from office, the National Judicial Council acted ultra vires.
“Under Section 238 of the Constitution, if the office of the President of the Court of Appeal becomes vacant, the President of Nigeria ‘shall appoint the most senior Justice of the Court of Appeal to perform those functions’ pending the appointment of the President of the Court.
“By directing the most senior Justice of the Court of Appeal to take over the functions of the office of the President of the Court of Appeal, the National Judicial Council has usurped the powers of the President of Nigeria.”
Falana added, “Having publicly acknowledged through an advertorial that it had been served with the originating process in the case filed by Justice Ayo Salami at the Federal High Court challenging the legal validity of the request of the National Judicial Council that he should apologise for allegedly lying on oath, the purported suspension of the President of the Court of Appeal from office is illegal and contemptuous.”
Also, the Campaign for Democracy has condemned what it described as “judicial gangsterism” by the NJC in its suspension of Salami.
This was contained in a statement in Lagos by CD’s President, Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin.
Okei-Odumakin said, “It is totally shocking and bewildering that the council will conduct itself in the most lawless manner the NJC has gone about the suspension of Justice Salami.
“It was the saddest, day for the rule of law and justice administration in Nigeria when the NJC refused to accept court summons from Justice Salami’s lawyer and went ahead to take ‘disciplinary’ action on a matter that is already before the court.
“The message the NJC is sending to Nigerians is to lose confidence in the judicial system if the President of the Court of Appeal cannot be protected by the court.
“In the plainest language, what the NJC has done is to resort to self-help to achieve some pernicious agenda which can only bring anarchy to justice administration in Nigeria.”
The CD added, “It is time for all democracy loving Nigerians to stand up in defence of the rule of law by opposing this violation of the rule of law by the National Judicial Council.”
By Agency Reporter Courtesy Of: Punch
No comments:
Post a Comment