JUDICIAL FAUX PAS: THE RETURN OF HON. JUSTICE AYO SALAMI-AN INVERSION OF THE JUDICIAL TRAJECTORY.....
When the PDP and Jonathan found out that Justice Salami was not a pliable judge that could be tele-guided to do the wishes of PDP, they knew that there was an impending danager.At first, PDP wanted the case at the Presidential Election Tribunal (PET) thrown out because it was submitted on Sunday-it was quite laughable that PDP could make such submission on weighty case like that with such lame excuse. The Justice Salami led panel wasted no time in reminding the PDP and INEC that based on a Supreme Court ruling in the past, it was impossible to throw out a case based on frivolous technicality, and insisted that the case should be heard on its merit. The PDP and Jonathan, reeling from such judicial slap, went back to their bag of mischief. They told Justice Salami not to allow CPC access to the biometric database for forensic scrutiny; they posited that such access would be ‘a threat to National Security’. Justice Salami could not understand why access to biometric database would amount to threat to national security, he could not grasps what the link between access to biometric data had to do with national security ( except the PDP meant that the forensic scrutiny would have exposed the fraud of the 2011 elections to the rest of the world would be a threat to national security).Justice Salami wasted no time in putting PDP and Jonathan where they belong by ordering UNFETTERED access to all election matters, biometric database and registers in the presence of INEC and PDP forensic experts.
When the order for CPC to have unfettered access to the biometric database was give on the 24th May 2011, PDP/Jonathan and INEC become jittery .PDP and Jonathan were jittery because a forensic scrutiny of the bailout papers as requested by CPC would have exposed the fraud, and shamed them before the world- the forensic analysis would have shown incontrovertibly the fraud and rigging that took place during the election, and not even the most corrupt judge would have ruled otherwise.Jega and INEC became jittery because Jega had squandered the over N100B that was allocated and lied to us that there was a biometric database when there was none. He knew that his fraud and lies would become glaring to the world and he would be prosecuted and sent to jail.PDP and INEC , knowing that they had a common agenda(to cover up fraud and lies) colluded together and worked as a team in castrating the case. They knew that with Hon Justice Salami as the head of the Presidential Election Tribunal, they would lose the case and be disgraced. They had to work together.PDP reached out to their corrupt Ally in the person of Former Chief Justice of Nigeria Aloysius Katsina-Alu, his mission was to ensure that the mudsling case he had with Salami was given accelerated hearing .Before anyone could say anything, a highly compromised NJC found Salami of guilty of ‘nothing but disrespect to the CJN’ and ordered that he apologize to Katsina-Alu. Since Salami did nothing wrong, he refused to apologized. PDP and Jonathan saw this as an opportunity to effect the removal of Salami since that was the only option left for them. The NJC, in contempt of Court went ahead to suspend Justice Salami, and President Jonathan moved with the speed of light to accept the suspension and appointed an acting President of the Court of Appeal despite nationwide outcry and admonishment from the Bar.In total disregard to the Courts and the feeling of Nigerians, Salami suspension stood because evil men were at the helm of judicial matter
After the removal of Salami, the stage was set, the Theatre of the Absurd was convened, and a coven of vultures made to seat over a sacred altar, sacrilege and abomination were perpetrated and a cloud of darkness drew over the judicial cloud. The newly constituted Presidential Election Tribunal swung into action immediately, and did not hide their intention from the outset. On September 7th, 2011, the very foundation of the Nigerian Judiciary was displaced, as a masterstroke judicial heresy was committed. Learned and elderly judges sat with wigs on their heads, committed unpardonable legal apostasy, which put the nation’s judiciary in ‘inverted reverse gear’. The newly constituted Presidential Election Tribunal made a mockery of itself when it reversed and contradicted itself on an order it gave on the 24th of May 2011 for CPC to have UNFETTERED access to the biometric database. The new Chairman of the PET, robed in shame and dishonor, led other members PET to ‘dance naked’ before the Nigeria public, when it said UNFETTERED access did not mean access to INEC biometric database. This singular decision castrated the case and gave legitimacy to daylight robbery, hamstrung the ability of CPC to prove its case and laid a deadly precedent in Nigeria Judiciary chronicle. It did not need commonsense, or a grasp of law to know that such warps and twisted decision could only have been taken at gun-point or ‘Ghana-must-Go point’- in this case the later was probably the true point. . The honour of the entire judiciary system was sacrificed on the altar of ‘gift’ ,and the reverberation of that decision will transcend many generations ,if not reversered.That singular decision made conducting elections a colossal waste of money, since the ‘biggest rigger’ will always carry the day. The judgment of the September 7th was a landmark judgment, but in the negative, because, it emasculated the prosecutor, took away the only means of proving electoral fraud .The judgment needs to be revisited if we are serious about having elections that are credible.
At the Supreme Court, the case could not be proven, since the case was already castrated by the Judges at the Presidential Election Tribunal, made ‘dead on arrival’. The Seven Justices of the Supreme Court also towed the part of the PET, refused to subject the case to any further rigorous legal scrutiny, or at best we can say that they made judgment based on the case presented before them. The Supreme Court made rulings in favour of Jonathan and PDP.
Now that Jonathan and the PDP has been able to compromise and destroy the judiciary, eroding the remaining honour of the Courts in his bid to hold on to a disputed mandate, having gotten the final node from the Supreme Court, the stage is now set for the re-instatement of one of the few lions in the judiciary, on Justice Ayo Salami; all what they wanted to achieved has been done, and there is no further legal threat to Jonathan, hence, Hon Justice Salami who was from the beginning an impartial and disinterested party in the case can be called to return as the President of the Court of Appeal. The show of shame and judicial horror will take place in the coming days.Jonathan, PDP has achieved their aim, and Salami does not look like a threat anymore, therefore, he can return to his seat. This comic of an action will further erode the little honour left of the Courts, whittle down the powers of the judiciary in public domain, and send the wrong signals to the people. Hon. Justice Salami can now come back as PCA, this would be sold to us as a peace deal ‘brokered’ by the NJC, NBA and some senior/retired members of the Bar and Bench. This is a charade, and the façade of diplomacy which it would be enveloped in shown be rejected. An injury has been inflicted on the whole legal system, deeply lacerated and still bleeding, a cosmetic dressing would not heal the torn out tissues .The re-instatement of Salami, though good on its own merit because Justice Salami was never guilty, shows that our judiciary is still an appendage of the executive, lacks autonomy and cannot arbitrate impartially in electoral judicial cases nor posses the capacity to dispense justice
For us Nigerians, it is a big low in the history of justice, it shows there is a thick cloud of brass over our judiciary system. It is not about Buhari or CPC, it is about the independence of our Courts, which has been highly compromised by PDP. Unless, people of goodwill and foresight rise and challenge the status quo of judiciary recklessness, we are heading for doom. The Judiciary is supposed to be the gauge by which acceptable behaviours are measure, it should be a scale of equity, where everyone can come for measurement, but, in Nigeria it is not so but a diametric opposite. We should be ashamed of the Nigerian Judiciary for it is incapable of delivery justice when a case involves the Executive, and this is wrong
The happenings in the Nigeria political scene are quite discouraging and disturbing, Suffice to note, that withdrawing into our shell and re-evaluating things may be a good option. There are so many evil men in power and they labour to ensure that things do not work , the Nigerian Systems is corrupt by design and people enjoy the status quo of corruption and would fight every attempt at changing things. Let it be noted, that if things go the way the Jonathan administration is driving the Country, we may all wake up one day to find out that we are bankrupt, without any external reserves but with colossal debt and that our oil is fully depleted. It should also be noted that the government of Jonathan lack the capacity to fight corruption or do things right, this is evidence by available facts on ground, owing to the fact that they live by the very essence of corruption.
I will leave you with the words of Tennessee Ernie Ford "you cant cheat the public for long".........
Justice Ayo Salami....Suspended Court of Appeal President
When the PDP and Jonathan found out that Justice Salami was not a pliable judge that could be tele-guided to do the wishes of PDP, they knew that there was an impending danager.At first, PDP wanted the case at the Presidential Election Tribunal (PET) thrown out because it was submitted on Sunday-it was quite laughable that PDP could make such submission on weighty case like that with such lame excuse. The Justice Salami led panel wasted no time in reminding the PDP and INEC that based on a Supreme Court ruling in the past, it was impossible to throw out a case based on frivolous technicality, and insisted that the case should be heard on its merit. The PDP and Jonathan, reeling from such judicial slap, went back to their bag of mischief. They told Justice Salami not to allow CPC access to the biometric database for forensic scrutiny; they posited that such access would be ‘a threat to National Security’. Justice Salami could not understand why access to biometric database would amount to threat to national security, he could not grasps what the link between access to biometric data had to do with national security ( except the PDP meant that the forensic scrutiny would have exposed the fraud of the 2011 elections to the rest of the world would be a threat to national security).Justice Salami wasted no time in putting PDP and Jonathan where they belong by ordering UNFETTERED access to all election matters, biometric database and registers in the presence of INEC and PDP forensic experts.
When the order for CPC to have unfettered access to the biometric database was give on the 24th May 2011, PDP/Jonathan and INEC become jittery .PDP and Jonathan were jittery because a forensic scrutiny of the bailout papers as requested by CPC would have exposed the fraud, and shamed them before the world- the forensic analysis would have shown incontrovertibly the fraud and rigging that took place during the election, and not even the most corrupt judge would have ruled otherwise.Jega and INEC became jittery because Jega had squandered the over N100B that was allocated and lied to us that there was a biometric database when there was none. He knew that his fraud and lies would become glaring to the world and he would be prosecuted and sent to jail.PDP and INEC , knowing that they had a common agenda(to cover up fraud and lies) colluded together and worked as a team in castrating the case. They knew that with Hon Justice Salami as the head of the Presidential Election Tribunal, they would lose the case and be disgraced. They had to work together.PDP reached out to their corrupt Ally in the person of Former Chief Justice of Nigeria Aloysius Katsina-Alu, his mission was to ensure that the mudsling case he had with Salami was given accelerated hearing .Before anyone could say anything, a highly compromised NJC found Salami of guilty of ‘nothing but disrespect to the CJN’ and ordered that he apologize to Katsina-Alu. Since Salami did nothing wrong, he refused to apologized. PDP and Jonathan saw this as an opportunity to effect the removal of Salami since that was the only option left for them. The NJC, in contempt of Court went ahead to suspend Justice Salami, and President Jonathan moved with the speed of light to accept the suspension and appointed an acting President of the Court of Appeal despite nationwide outcry and admonishment from the Bar.In total disregard to the Courts and the feeling of Nigerians, Salami suspension stood because evil men were at the helm of judicial matter
After the removal of Salami, the stage was set, the Theatre of the Absurd was convened, and a coven of vultures made to seat over a sacred altar, sacrilege and abomination were perpetrated and a cloud of darkness drew over the judicial cloud. The newly constituted Presidential Election Tribunal swung into action immediately, and did not hide their intention from the outset. On September 7th, 2011, the very foundation of the Nigerian Judiciary was displaced, as a masterstroke judicial heresy was committed. Learned and elderly judges sat with wigs on their heads, committed unpardonable legal apostasy, which put the nation’s judiciary in ‘inverted reverse gear’. The newly constituted Presidential Election Tribunal made a mockery of itself when it reversed and contradicted itself on an order it gave on the 24th of May 2011 for CPC to have UNFETTERED access to the biometric database. The new Chairman of the PET, robed in shame and dishonor, led other members PET to ‘dance naked’ before the Nigeria public, when it said UNFETTERED access did not mean access to INEC biometric database. This singular decision castrated the case and gave legitimacy to daylight robbery, hamstrung the ability of CPC to prove its case and laid a deadly precedent in Nigeria Judiciary chronicle. It did not need commonsense, or a grasp of law to know that such warps and twisted decision could only have been taken at gun-point or ‘Ghana-must-Go point’- in this case the later was probably the true point. . The honour of the entire judiciary system was sacrificed on the altar of ‘gift’ ,and the reverberation of that decision will transcend many generations ,if not reversered.That singular decision made conducting elections a colossal waste of money, since the ‘biggest rigger’ will always carry the day. The judgment of the September 7th was a landmark judgment, but in the negative, because, it emasculated the prosecutor, took away the only means of proving electoral fraud .The judgment needs to be revisited if we are serious about having elections that are credible.
At the Supreme Court, the case could not be proven, since the case was already castrated by the Judges at the Presidential Election Tribunal, made ‘dead on arrival’. The Seven Justices of the Supreme Court also towed the part of the PET, refused to subject the case to any further rigorous legal scrutiny, or at best we can say that they made judgment based on the case presented before them. The Supreme Court made rulings in favour of Jonathan and PDP.
Now that Jonathan and the PDP has been able to compromise and destroy the judiciary, eroding the remaining honour of the Courts in his bid to hold on to a disputed mandate, having gotten the final node from the Supreme Court, the stage is now set for the re-instatement of one of the few lions in the judiciary, on Justice Ayo Salami; all what they wanted to achieved has been done, and there is no further legal threat to Jonathan, hence, Hon Justice Salami who was from the beginning an impartial and disinterested party in the case can be called to return as the President of the Court of Appeal. The show of shame and judicial horror will take place in the coming days.Jonathan, PDP has achieved their aim, and Salami does not look like a threat anymore, therefore, he can return to his seat. This comic of an action will further erode the little honour left of the Courts, whittle down the powers of the judiciary in public domain, and send the wrong signals to the people. Hon. Justice Salami can now come back as PCA, this would be sold to us as a peace deal ‘brokered’ by the NJC, NBA and some senior/retired members of the Bar and Bench. This is a charade, and the façade of diplomacy which it would be enveloped in shown be rejected. An injury has been inflicted on the whole legal system, deeply lacerated and still bleeding, a cosmetic dressing would not heal the torn out tissues .The re-instatement of Salami, though good on its own merit because Justice Salami was never guilty, shows that our judiciary is still an appendage of the executive, lacks autonomy and cannot arbitrate impartially in electoral judicial cases nor posses the capacity to dispense justice
For us Nigerians, it is a big low in the history of justice, it shows there is a thick cloud of brass over our judiciary system. It is not about Buhari or CPC, it is about the independence of our Courts, which has been highly compromised by PDP. Unless, people of goodwill and foresight rise and challenge the status quo of judiciary recklessness, we are heading for doom. The Judiciary is supposed to be the gauge by which acceptable behaviours are measure, it should be a scale of equity, where everyone can come for measurement, but, in Nigeria it is not so but a diametric opposite. We should be ashamed of the Nigerian Judiciary for it is incapable of delivery justice when a case involves the Executive, and this is wrong
The happenings in the Nigeria political scene are quite discouraging and disturbing, Suffice to note, that withdrawing into our shell and re-evaluating things may be a good option. There are so many evil men in power and they labour to ensure that things do not work , the Nigerian Systems is corrupt by design and people enjoy the status quo of corruption and would fight every attempt at changing things. Let it be noted, that if things go the way the Jonathan administration is driving the Country, we may all wake up one day to find out that we are bankrupt, without any external reserves but with colossal debt and that our oil is fully depleted. It should also be noted that the government of Jonathan lack the capacity to fight corruption or do things right, this is evidence by available facts on ground, owing to the fact that they live by the very essence of corruption.
I will leave you with the words of Tennessee Ernie Ford "you cant cheat the public for long".........
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