NJC Defends Action On Salami

Ayo Salami

Ayo Salami

The National Judicial Council, NJC, which has been drawing knocks from judiciary stakeholders over the suspension and retirement of the President of Court of Appeal, Justice Ayo Isa Salami on Monday in Abuja rose in defence of its action and challenged its critics to the test of proving that the Council acted outside its constitutional mandate on the Salami scandal.

At a press briefing conducted at the Council’s headquarters at the Supreme Court Complex in Abuja by Mr. E. I. Odukwu, the Council’s Director of Administration, the NJC responded to allegations levelled against it on non compliance on the formation of a quorum when the decision to oust Salami was taken.

Brandishing copies of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Mr. Odukwu pointed out that section 159 of the constitution stipulates that a quorum for a meeting of bodies established by section 153 of the same constitution shall be not less than one third of the total numbers of that body.

He observed that relevant number of NJC members is 19 when all other matters are to be considered and that the court will determine from the attendance register of the Council what the quorum is at the appropriate time.

Pointing out section 160 of the constitution, Odukwu stated that the NJC since 2005 has had its rules of procedures on how its meetings are conducted an expressed concern that lawyers would write to challenge the Council over the competency of Justice Moses Bello, a Council member of 30 years post Call experience at the Bar and 19 years as Head of Court, to preside over the two emergency meetings of 9th and 19th August, where the matter of Justice Salami was deliberated and decided. He stated that the rule is clear as to who presides over Council meeting in the absence of the Chairman or the Deputy.

He called on the public not to be misinformed about the status of the NJC, which he said, is a statutory judicial administrative body and not a law court.

Responding to criticisms that the Council held frequent emergency meetings on Salami, Odukwu referred to a letter authored by the Body of Senior Advocates of Nigeria calling on the NJC to hasten its deliberations on Salami and other matters which was signed by Richard Akinjide and Seyi Sowemimo, wherein the body spoke against the extension and prolongation of the work of Justice Umaru Abdullahi’s panel which the body said will give rise to the perception that the outcome is being postponed to a time when Katsina Alu, the immediate past CJN, would have retired from office as well as others who wrote to criticise the NJC over delays in dispensing with the matter, only to turn back and accuse the NJC of hastily consideration of the Justice Abdullahi Committee Report.

He absolved the NJC of any error noting that the Council took its decision based on the powers conferred on it by the nation’s constitution and that the court in determining the suit instituted aginst the NJC will decide on that.

The Council also views as a welcome development, the threat by the Joseph Dawodu led Nigeria Bar Association that it would withdraw from activities of the NJC over the Salami matter and observed that the Council has no power to exclude any member from its meeting as Council members, including NBA Nominees are products of the nation’s constitution.

Odukwu further stated that all the judicial officers, including Justice Salami, who the NJC had sanctioned was based on misconduct and not on criminal offences allegedly committed by the judicial officers. This implied that Justice Salami’s suspension and retirement was not for committing perjury as some commentators had held in both Electronic and Print media.

He stressed that the NJC has no constitutional powers to investigate any criminal offence alleged to have been committed by any judicial officer.

The Council also called on stakeholders in the Judiciary, particularly some senior advocates of Nigeria, to be objective in their comments on the Issue as it has far reaching constitutional implication and is pending before the court.

Hearing on the case filed by Justice Salami against his suspension and retirement by the NJC comes up at the Federal High Court on Wednesday, 7th September.

By Nnamdi Felix / Abuja

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