9th February, 2011
The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Ikeja, Lagos, branch has called on the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) Justice Aloysius Katsina-Alu to withdraw the promotion of Justice Ayo Salami from the Court of Appeal to the Supreme Court.
NBA says it is a ploy to expose the court to the machinations of politicians ahead of the 2011 general elections.
Mr Adebamigbe Omole, NBA chairman, Ikeja Branch made this call yesterday in a press briefing in Lagos.
Omole said the unprecedented and unsolicited promotion was a dangerous introduction of politics into the nation’s judiciary which hitherto had been the most stable of the three arms of government.
He said: “ We have no hesitation to conclude that the rejected promotion is a ploy to remove the incumbent President of the Court of Appeal from the very important post because the court has the powers of the office to constitute Election Petition Tribunals and Appeal Tribunals.â€
According to him, the status quo must be allowed to remain, in order to safeguard the integrity and honour of the judiciary.
Omole therefore urged the CJN to withdraw the promotion which had pitted both eminent justices against one another in the past few weeks following Salami’s refusal to accept it.
“Curiously, the rejected promotion came just a few days after Senator Iyiola Omisore mounted vitriolic attacks on Justice Salami and other Court of Appeal Justices, making very wild but unsubstantiated allegations against these Justices,†he noted.
The NBA chairman, while condemning Omisore’s recent advertorial attacks on the judiciary, threatened that the branch would soon commence legal action against the Osun State Senator if he fails to substantiate the allegations.
He said: “ We wish to call on the Inspector General of Police to beef up security around these justices knowing full well the desperate attitude of many of our politicians. If anything untoward should happen to any of these justices, Omisore should be held responsible.â€
—Henry Ojelu & Nnamdi Felix / Abuja