By JIDE AJANI, CHRIS OCHAI & IKECHUKWU NNOCHIRI

ABUJA—AS Nigerians look up to the Judiciary to clear some of the mess already being created by the spate of litigations over the nomination of some candidates for the April general elections, the fresh tension between the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Honourable Justice Aloysius Katsina-Alu, GCON, and President of the Court of Appeal, Honourable Justice Ayo Salami, OFR, following the latter’s appointment to the Supreme Court, yesterday, continued to draw flaks from many quarters.

The Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN; Conference of Nigeria’s Political Parties, CNPP; politicians and lawyers, yesterday, continued to criticize the proposed move in very strong terms.

The ACN, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, and entitled “ACN to President Jonathan: Stop the denigration of the judiciary under your watch,” warned that there would be “far-reaching consequences for all if the PDP, because it is the ruling party, is allowed to use its clout to destroy the Judiciary just to serve its own selfish ends.”

A lawyer, Carol Ajie, referred the Chief Justice of Nigeria to the letters and intent of the Nigerian Constitution, just as he cited the practice in the international human and civil rights community which insists that the ‘recommendee’ must first request it from the ‘recommender’.

By the same token the CNPP in a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Osita Okechukwu, called on the National Judicial Council to cancel the appointment and call the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Hon Justice Kastina_Alu to order before he plunged Nigeria into constitutional crisis.

ACN reacts

The ACN said: “It is not unusual for any individual or political party to disagree with a court ruling. Such disagreement can be vented through appeal process, where possible, or other accepted civilised means. But to resort to downright abuse of judges and the courts, as the PDP and Senator Iyiola Omisore have been doing in the case of the Court of Appeal, is a dangerous trend that can only destroy an arm of government that is widely believed to have done more than any other to save our democracy.’’

The party said a clear example of the unbridled onslaught against the Judiciary was the published report that the CJN, using the federal judicial service commission, was spearheading the ‘promotion’ of the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Ayo Salami, to the Supreme Court so as to replace him with someone who is believed to be pliable.

ACN added: ‘’The report said while Justice Salami is ostensibly being ‘promoted’ because he is needed to help shore up the apex court, in view of his erudition and courage, the real reason is that the PDP has become uncomfortable with the recent rulings of the Court of Appeal under his watch, especially the loss of Osun and Ekiti states to the opposition, and has thus arrived at a final solution to ease him out. This is very sad for our country.

‘’It is sad because, according to the published report, which has yet to be refuted, Justice Salami was neither consulted nor did he ask for the promotion – as is the tradition. It is sad because President Jonathan’s name is being dragged into the whole issue, as he has reportedly agreed to increase the number of the Justices on the Supreme Court just to accommodate Justice Salami. It is sad because the PDP believes that it must always receive favourable rulings from the courts, just because it is the ruling party.”

What the Constitution says, by Carol Ajie
In an incisive letter she forwarded to both the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, and other high ranking members of the Nigerian Inner Bar, a constitutional lawyer, Mr. Carol Ajie, relied on provisions of Section 231 (2) of the 1999 Constitution to fault the purported promotion, contending that the statutes provided that “the appointment of a person to the office of a Justice of the Supreme Court shall be made by the President on the recommendation of the National Judicial Council, subject to confirmation of such appointment by the Senate.”

Espousing the fact that Salami’s consent should have been sought before his purported promotion was made public, Ajie insisted that “to make a recommendation of any type, the international human and civil rights community insists that the ‘recommendee’ must first request it from the ‘recommender’, stressing that in the instant case the Appeal Court President never requested to be transferred to the apex court.

The letter said: “Take a quick look at Section 230 (2) CFRN 1999 as amended. It states that the Supreme Court of Nigeria shall consist of the CJN and such number of Justices not exceeding 21.

We now have 15-16 Justices of SC, we need five to six more JJSC, Right? Section 231(3) CFRN 1999 states that a person shall not be qualified to hold the office of CJN or JSC, unless s(he) is qualified to practice as a legal practitioner in Nigeria and has been so qualified for a period of not less than 15 years.

On the other hand, a human right activist, Chief Nkereuwem Udofia Akpan, yesterday, blamed the promotion crisis rocking the Judiciary on political god_fathers, even as he alleged a subterranean plot by politicians to push Justice Salami out of the Appeal Court before the impending general election.

He said: “It is a good thing that he has refused to accept the promotion, did he tell them that he needed to change environment or are the people clamouring for his elevation to the Supreme Court not aware of the fact that even in his present position, he is already equal to the Supreme Court Justices.”

The CNPP

The CNPP statement said: “We view the trumped up appointment as orchestra of rigging and prelude to appointment of a pliable President of Appeal Court who will be a rubber stamp to the Chief Justice of Nigeria. We salute Justice Ayo Salami and stand by his outright rejection of the offer, not only because of the unethical manner of the appointment, as he was neither consulted nor the matter listed in the agenda of the Federal Judicial Service Commission; but on the truism that it is clearly politically motivated and simulated by President Goodluck Jonathan and his journey men who view Justice Salami as an obstacle in the April 2011 post electoral petitions.

“We recall how the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Hon. Justice Aloysius Kastina_Alu, ignobly descended into the arena and unceremoniously halted the Sokoto State governorship election petition judgment ready for delivery at the Appeal Court. On the issue of judgments delivered by the Appeal Court recently being against the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, we wish to state that out of over 100 cases including presidential election petitions, it is only five governorship and few parliamentary seats that were won in the Appeal Court by APGA, Labour Party and Action Congress, while PDP won the remaining cases since 2003 elections.

“CNPP agrees with Justice Ayo Salami that the environment is already over heated and in a state of flux; consequently Nigerians will frown at anybody or group of persons who out of personal interest manipulate the judiciary to achieve predetermined results.”