THE suspension of the President of the Court of Appeal, PCA, Justice Isa Ayo Salami on Thursday, August 18, 2011 ,by the National Judicial Council, NJC, should be of grave concern to President Goodluck Jonathan, Nigerian politicians and of course Nigerians in general.

I have specifically mentioned the President and our politicians here because a mishandling of this glaring judicial tyranny by the National Judicial Council, NJC, may translate to a tacit endorsement of this morbid histrionics, a spooky signature tune caressing a fading subject in the minds of our men in uniform and drawing them closer to the theatre of political temptations.

Even if my statement here is viewed to have a string of extremism, I , dare say that unless President Jonathan takes another look on his approval of this awful mutilation of judicial reverence by the NJC, the above statement may just turn out not only prophetic but one that will torment our leaders’ conscience for some time to come.

Those who harbour any doubts about the ease with which the judiciary could provoke national instability should channel their minds to the politically-motivated judgements of the early 1960s from our courts, the cacophonous voices that emanated from the judiciary and the consequent turmoil that culminated in the Chukwuma Nzeogwu-led putsch.

For a crystal understanding of the ugly NJC business of the last few weeks, let me briefly re-enact the scenario. Late in 2009, there were rumours of a simmering tiff between the PCA, Salami and the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Alloysius Katsina-Alu. This matter finally sizzled and rendered the judiciary naked when the NJC headed by the CJN attempted strangely to promote the PCA, against his will, to the Supreme Court.

What came out clearly to most Nigerians was that Salami as PCA was given the unprecedented and indeed unholy promotion to the Supreme Court because of his strong disagreement with the CJN over the Sokoto State governorship election tribunal. Well-informed Nigerians were worried that the attempted promotion of Salami, a man widely seen to have an untrammeled integrity, was designed to render him judicially impotent.

This was so because the Appeal Court was the final court for all but presidential election matters before the recent constitutional amendment that made the apex court the final arbiter on governorship election petitions.

To save his job and perhaps his head, Salami went to a Federal High Court where he accused the CJN in an affidavit of trying to compromise the Sokoto State gubernatorial election appeal panel, describing his promotion by the NJC as tendentious. However, the intervention of some eminent jurists and stakeholders in the Nigerian judiciary compelled Salami to withdraw his suit.

A panel set up by the NJC to look into this intricate dispute, headed by Justice Umaru Abdullahi, the immediate past president of the Court of Appeal, indicted Salami of perjury over his claim that the CJN tried to compel him to tinker with the course of justice in the Sokoto Appeal panel. The panel also stated clearly that the CJN acted outside his powers in stopping a judgement that was not before his court.

But to the eternal shock of judicial watchers and Nigerians, Justice Ibrahim Auta’s three-man panel set up to review Justice Umaru Abdullahi’s report, cleared the CJN of any form of wrong doing. Even the Katsina-Alu’s interference in stopping the Sokoto Appeal judgement, was done in good faith, according to Auta and his men.

To crown this jaundiced report and perhaps give a pyrrhic victory to the CJN, the panel recommended, with a seven day ultimatum, that Salami should tender an apology to the CJN and NJC. A man with childlike aura but a granite cast conviction, Salami must have considered the ultimatum laughable and the NJC was prepared for the often disgraceful flip side of power. And so it slammed him with an indefinite suspension.

As an icing on the cake, the NJC in this 7th Emergency Meeting of the Council recommended the PCA to President Jonathan for compulsory retirement. Despite the loud condemnation that greeted NJC’s action, President Jonathan went ahead on Saturday, August 21, 2011 to confirm the suspension of the PCA.

My deepest concern in this case is about the primitive and obtrusive tyranny of the NJC. How could the highest judicial institution in the land so brazenly make mimicry of the very essence of its existence-respect for the rule of law?

Again, there are critical questions arising from President Jonathan’s action? Does the president really have the power to suspend the PCA? Is the judiciary not supposed to be one of the independent tripods of the government? Are we under the rule of law or rule by caprice? Is the CJN above the law? What are the implications of Jonathan’s action in this case ? ……[ To be continued ]

Mr  Zik Zulu Okafor, MD/CEO, Zulu Films, wrote from Lagos