The Nigerian Bar Association on Sunday urged President Goodluck Jonathan to ignore the recommendation of the National Judicial Council to retire President, Court of Appeal, Justice Ayo Salami.
The NBA said Salami’s suit, challenging the outcome of the NJC’s probe panels was still pending in court.
It also directed all lawyers in the country, including those to be conferred with the prestigious rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria, to stay away from the inauguration fixed for Friday, which falls on the last day of NBA’s 51st Annual General Conference, holding in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
This was contained in the communique issued after the National Executive Committee of the NBA on Sunday.
It expressed displeasure with the attitude of the NJC members, who took the illegal and unconstitutional decision of suspending Salami, for “believing that it could ride roughshod over the process of court by suspending the President of the Court of Appeal, after he had filed suits to challenge the recommendations of the NJC in the dispute between him and the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Alloysius Katsina-Alu.”
National President of the NBA, Joseph Daudu (SAN), declared in the communique that it was wrong for the NJC to proceed with the suspension of Salami, when the suits he filed were pending in court.
The NBA said, “Nowhere in Section 158 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria allows the NJC to proceed with the action it took, regardless of the pendency of court proceedings.
“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.
“Section 6(1) of the 1999 Constitution explicitly provides that the judicial powers of the federation shall be vested in the courts.
“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.
“NBA will not sit idle and watch the legal profession ridiculed and brought into disrepute in the public domain.
“NBA will withdraw its members from the NJC, pending when appropriate amendments to the constitution will be made inter alia; increasing NBA membership from 5 to 10.”
NBA further called for the restructuring of the NJC membership and functions, in such a way as to make the body functional and less prone to dictatorship and abuse of power.
The association added that the decision of the CJN to fix the SAN’s inauguration on the closing date of NBA’s annual conference was an affront and disrespect to the entire bar.
Daudu said he had in February notified the CJN of the NBA conference and was aware that September 19 had earlier been fixed as the date for the inauguration of the new SANs.
NBA insisted that the September date was an appropriate date, as it was traditional to swear in new SANs at the opening of a new judiciary year.
It added, “NEC hence, decided that the bar shall boycott the ceremony and all her members have been advised to stay away, including those to be conferred with the rank of SAN.
“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.”
President Jonathan will on Monday (today) at the Alfred Diete-Spiff Civic Centre, Moscow Road, Port Harcourt, declare the NBA conference open.
Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, is expected to be the keynote speaker, at an event to be attended by no fewer than 10,000 lawyers and other stakeholders.
By Agency Reporter Courtesy Of: Punch
No comments:
Post a Comment