Salami’s removal, ploy to marginalise the South – OPC

By ABDULWAHAB ABDULAH
A fresh dimension has been added to the removal of the Court Appeal President, Justice Ayo Salami, with the Oodua People’s Congress, OPC, describing his suspension as a ploy to continue the maginalisation of the Southern parts of the country in the present administration.

President and founder of OPC, Dr Frederick Fasehun, in Lagos, therefore urged President Goodluck Jonathan to immediately reverse his earlier decision by re-instating Justice Salami back to office to allay the fear of the Southerners.

Fasehun who chronicled how the Southern Nigeria, especially the Yorubas are marginalized in the present administration said, “presently, the three arms of government are under the control of the North, contrary to the dictates of the Federal character, as stipulated in the 1999 constitution.”

He said it is high time the President adjusted himself by ensuring that Yorubas are given a vital political office in the country, else, the region will be made to make a choice to either continue with its support for the administration or not.

Condemning the hasty steps taken by both the National Judicial Council, NJC and president Jonathan in removing Salami from office, Fasehun lamented that “the regime of President Jonathan has completely marginalised Yoruba people. We notice a systematic alienation and emasculation of the Yoruba from the commanding heights of government. “And Yoruba people of the South-West who gave unflinching support to President Jonathan are unhappy that they face frustration at all levels of government. For the sweet cake we donated, we are being paid back with canes and insults.”

Stating that the way and manner of appointments into the headship of judiciary suggest that the North is out to achieve an agenda, Fasehun said, “A compromised judiciary is, therefore, not only dangerous for democracy; it poses an even graver danger to national unity and security. Nothing must be done to vitiate or debase the nation’s most sacred arm of government. The Salami Saga threatens the very sanctity of that institution.”

He said by removing Salami, “the NJC has demonstrated impunity and resorted to self-help, qualities that must have no place in our law. We urge the National Judicial Council (NJC) to revisit the case of Justice Isa Salami and allow fair hearing, the rule of law and due process to prevail. The NJC is the NJC; it is not a court of law. Nobody will attempt to take away its constitutionally given power to administer discipline to law officers. But its every action must follow due process and the rule of law, which have been vagrantly sacrificed in this case. If Justice Salami believes his rights have been traduced and he has gone to the court to seek redress, the NJC must allow him pursue his matter to a legal conclusion at the law courts.”

On the marginalisation of the South, the OPC leader said, “Justice Katsina-Alu has nominated Justice Dahiru Musdapher as his successor and in the alternative, Justice Aloma Mariam Mukhtar. Katsina-Alu is a Northerner. Musdapher is a Northerner. And Mukhtar is a Northerner. Curiously too, in the Court of Appeal, Justice Dalhatu Adamu, another Northerner, has been selected to replace Justice Salami. Justice Ayo Isa Salami was Yoruba people’s only eye in the top hierarchy of the Judiciary. If these new appointments are allowed to stand, it will mean that both levels of the Judiciary and the NJC will now be headed by Northerners.”

He emphasised that since 1987, “Justice Mohammed Bello became the first Northerner to occupy the post of Chief Justice of Nigeria. Since 1987, about 24 years now, the Nigerian Judiciary has been headed by an unbroken line of Northerners. We are in fact gearing up for the sixth Northerner, with another waiting in the wings to succeed him as the seventh. Not only is this immoral, it is unconstitutional, unpatriotic and unacceptable. We will never forget the role General Ibrahim Babangida played to bring about this evil.”

He said, it is worthy to note that no Igbo man has never even held the post, saying, “the reason why the North delayed in producing someone for the post was for lack of qualification. Since 1987, there has been a deliberate insensitivity to the rule of law and national unity in the appointment of CJNs. This same insensitivity operates at the Federal Capital Territory Abuja, where there has been an unbroken monopoly of 15 Northerner administrators since Ajose Adeogun vacated the position in 1979.”

Calling on President Jonathan to review Salami’s removal, he said: “Agreed that the President has acted within his powers to appoint an Acting President for the Court of Appeal, His Excellency must display sensitivity and national interest in making the final selection. The President must veto the confirmation of Justice Dalhatu Adamu as President for the Court of Appeal. Although the Constitution says an outgoing President of the Appeal Court must be replaced through seniority, the Constitution remains silent about seniority as the sole qualification for a substantive President of the Court of Appeal.”

Calling on Yorubas to rise to the challenge, Fasehun said, “Let it be said loud and clear that the noisy silence of the Yoruba people should not be considered as acquiescence to the evil being perpetrated against them. We Yoruba people strongly protest our marginalisation. And no effort shall be spared to make our protests heard at the highest level.

If no effort is made to arrest the status quo, we will review the comfort we derive from our common bed. We have silently tolerated more than enough. President Jonathan should persuade the Yoruba people that he has nothing against them. The Yoruba people are marginalised and it is time to give them their dues.”

He therefore urged the Yorubas to come together and fashion out a way forward on the issue confronting them as a nation.