By Paul Odenyi, Abuja

The Justice Lawal Uwais Stakeholders Judicial Reform Committee has indicted the National Judicial Council, NJC, of the Justice Aloysius Katsina-Alu era of high handedness and abuse of procedure in its recommendation for the suspension of the Justice Ayo Salami, former President of the Court of Appeal, PCA.

The Committee therefore, in its recommendations which had been submitted  to the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Dahiru Musdapher asked for the recall of Justice Salami from suspension.

In asking for the recall of Salami, the committee noted that the reconciliation between the former CJN, Katsina-Alu and the former PCA was critical to the renewal of the good reputation of the Judiciary in the country.

A special sub committee of three comprising Justice Mamman Nasir, Justice Umaru Kalgo and Prince Bola Ajibola which was mandated to deliberate on the issue said in its recommendation that to maintain integrity of the Judiciary, restore confidence in both the Bar and Bench, the new Chief Justice of Nigeria and his National Judicial Council, NJC, should revoke the suspension and restore Salami to his position as PCA.

The report also said effort will be made to ask Justice Salami to withdraw his suit against the NJC and Katsina-Alu,  while reconciliation between the two should be promoted .

Giving reasons for its recommendation, the sub-committee said it reviewed the reports submitted to the NJC by the Justices Babalakin and Umaru Abdullahi as well as the one by Justice Ibrahim Auta, chief Judge of Abuja High Court on the matter.

According to the report of three committees set up by the NJC to look into the matter, non found reason to indict Salami and wondered how the recommendation for his suspension (Salami) was contrived.

“This sub-committee does not intend therefore, to go into them in details. Suffice it to say that when this matter arose and it was realized that it would damage the integrity of the judiciary, the NJC appointed a committee from its members to reconcile the parties and maintain the status quo ante. The Committee included those of Justices, B.O Babalakin, A.B Wali, A.I Iguh, E .O Ayoola and A.A. Akanbi.

Justice Isa Ayo Salami and President Goodluck Jonathan

“The committee completed its assignment after going through all relevant documents from the Chief Justice and President of the Court of Appeal and found no misconduct on the part of Salami, PCA. It said further that the CJN as chairman of the NJC has no express powers in the constitution or in any law to interfere with any proceedings in any court. “ the report noted.

Since the motive of that committee was to promote amity between the two principal officers and save the judiciary of imminent public perception blunder, the NJC accepted the report, while elders of the profession who were members of the Babalakin Committee prevailed on Salami to withdraw his case. However, another incident occurred which was the proposed elevation of Justice Salami as Justice of the Supreme Court.

The proposal initiated by the Katsina Alu at the joint meeting of the Federal Judicial Service Commission and the NJC was turned down by Salami who said he did not wish to be considered for appointment to the Supreme Court. The proposal was later withdrawn.

The Justice Abdullahi Committee report

The Uwais Judicial Reforms Committee noted that the second committee headed by Justice Umaru Abdullahi considered and deliberated on all petitions brought before it by the NJC, adding however, that, like the previous report “ the Abdullahi Panel found, on the totality of the evidence before it, that neither the CJN nor the PCA was guilty of any misconduct on the petitions submitted against them.

However, it established that the CJN (Katsina-Alu) wrote a letter as chairman of the NJC to the Justices of the Court of Appeal dealing with the Governorship Election Petition in Sokoto that they should “put on hold” the delivery of judgement in the petition until the petitions against them were cleared.

The Abdullahi panel said Katsina Alu was motivated more by apparent urge to protect the administration of Justice and avoid breach of peace. It wondered however, how reference to a breach of peace was made when the judgement of the tribunal which was to be delivered in Sokoto had not leaked.

In conclusion, the panel noted that if there was any possible threat to peace because of the pending decision of the Tribunal , the presiding Justices of the Court of Appeal in Sokoto was in the best position to know about it. In any case, it noted that “ Katsina-Alu CJN’s administrative decision that the case be put on hold should not as found by the Babalakin panel, be made by him. The CJN should not have in the first place written direct to the Justices in Sokoto judicial division as the power to do so lies in the President of Court of Appeal.

The NJC had noted the Justice Abdullahi panel’s report that “ be that as it may, the panel had no difficulty in holding the view that under the constitution and the laws of the land, no apparent power has been bestowed on the NJC of which the CJN is the chairman to interfere in any proceedings before the legally constituted court.

The NBA Panel report

Regarding the panel set up by the Nigerian Bar association, (NBA), the Uwais Committee further noted in  its conclusions that no case of wrongdoing or misconduct was established against Salami;  and that indeed, his answer to the query by the CJN to him was fully justified.

The NBA committee was able to establish that Senator Umaru Dahiru, Senate Committee Chairman on Judiciary in company of Yahaya Mahmud, SAN, had visited Salami in his chambers during which period they tried to convince the PCA to interfere with the functions of the Sokoto Court of Appeal judges in the governorship election petition but without success.

The Justice Auta panel report

The Uwais committee was curious that after the Justice Abdullahi panel’s report was submitted the NJC again constituted a third panel, this time headed by Ibrahim Auta, to consider the report of Abdullahi and make recommendation for the consideration of the whole house. Apart from Auta, Justices Kate Abiri (Bayelsa) and Philip NC Umeadi (Anambra) were the other members.

The Auta committee merely adopted all the findings of the Abdullahi panel except the one relating to the code of conduct for judicial officers. In Auta committee’s view, Salami’s action of speaking to the media to “ ventilate his difference with the Chief Justice Katsina Alu,” contravened the provision of Rule 1 (1) and Rule 2 (9) of the Code of Conduct for Judicial Officers.

However, the Uwais Committee noted that the Auta panel recommendation was faulty because no where in the report of the NJC on the Abdullahi panel submission were allegations made against Salami for talking to the press or disclosing official information to the public.

Concluding, the Uwais committee said: “ on the whole, there was no evidence to show any form of misconduct on the part of Salami, PCA; to justify any sanction or punishment. It is not clear what other evidence was used or relied upon by the NJC at its emergency meeting of September 8, 2011 to suspend Salami from performing his duties as president of the Court of Appeal.

It is also pertinent to observe that the order for suspension was made when his matter was sub-judice.
“In the circumstances and in order to maintain the integrity of the Judiciary and to assuage public feeling and restore confidence in both the Bar and Bench, this committee therefore strongly advises the CJN and the NJC to reconsider its earlier decision on the suspension of Justice Salami PCA and reinstate him to his position as soon as possible and in that way assure the public that the suspension of Justice Salami as President of Court of Appeal is not ill motivated.”