Seeds of crisis<\/strong><\/p>\nThere was no doubt that the two legal titans (Kastina -Alu and Salami) did not hide their aversion for each other, but the matter got to its head when on February 18, 2010, Katsina-Alu queried Salami over his alleged refusal to disband the panel of justices handling the Sokoto State Gubernatorial Election Appeal, a move that was considered legally absurd by the PCA who saw it as an attempt to usurp his powers, looking at it that it was the Court of Appeal that had total jurisdiction over governorship disputes at that time.<\/p>\n
In an unanimous decision of the Court delivered on April 11, 2008 and read by Belgore, JCA, the appeal was allowed. The judgment of the Election Tribunal, Sokoto, was set aside and the election and return of Governor Wamakko was nullified.<\/p>\n
The Court ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to within 90 days, conduct fresh governorship election in Sokoto State, adding that only valid candidates involved in the annulled election should participate in the fresh poll.<\/p>\n
The fresh election ordered by the Court of Appeal, Kaduna, was held on May 24, 2008, and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and its candidate, Governor Wamakko won again, a situation that warranted the Democratic Peoples Party, DPP, and its candidate, Alhaji Dingyadi, who lost, to proceed again to the Election Tribunal in Sokoto for redress, contending that by virtue of the earlier judgment, Wamakko ought not to have participated in the re-run election as he was not qualified to contest the 2007 election in the first place.<\/p>\n
The Governorship Election Tribunal, Sokoto, again dismissed the petition without deciding the issue of the disqualification of Governor Wamakko, hence the petitioners appealed to the Court of Appeal Sokoto Division, which was established after the decision of the Court of Appeal, Kaduna.<\/p>\n
However, before the appellate court could enter verdict in the matter, counsel to Wamakko and INEC, Mr. Alfred N. Agu and Mr A.B Mahmood, forwarded two petitions dated February 15, 2010, to the CJN, alleging judgment leakage, an allegation that was relied upon by the CJN to seek an immediate disbandment of the panel.<\/p>\n
After the refusal of the PCA to disband the panel, the CJN, ‘arrested’ the court’s judgment and subsequently dismissed Dingyadi’s petition as grossly lacking in merit.<\/p>\n
The situation turned messier when the National Judicial Council, NJC, on August 18, 2011 suspended the embattled PCA, Justice Isa Ayo Salami, over alleged “judicial misconduct”, it said eroded public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary.<\/p>\n
The matter assumed a new dimension when the ousted PCA, Salami, raised an alarm over what he described as surreptitious moves by the former CJN, Justice Katsina-Alu to “push” him to the Supreme Court Bench, saying the offer was a “Greek gift”, handed in bad faith.<\/p>\n
Customarily, never in the annals of the nation’s judiciary has a serving PCA moved to the apex court bench where by hierarchy, he automatically becomes junior to even those he nominated.<\/p>\n
As if that was not enough, the PCA, in a bid to quash his controversial promotion, went before a lower court and alleged that the ex-CJN pressurized him to compromise standard in an election petition matter in Sokoto State.<\/p>\n
Though Justice Salami eventually withdrew the affidavit he deposed before the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court, yet, it was not enough to deter the NJC from axing him out of office, even as it recommended his retirement from service. Meanwhile, the case is far from over, as suspense and uncertainty still trails the issue. The lower court has fixed January 9, 2012 to commence hearing on a suit challenging<\/p>\n
Salami’s suspension and the present CJN, Justice Dahiru Musdapher is a respondent before the lower court. Remarkably, the two judicial officers that ignited the fire left their respective offices soon after the crisis got to its head.<\/p>\n
Whereas the PCA left unceremoniously, the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, and the Body of Benchers, two principal organs of the judiciary, boycotted the valedictory session that was held in honor of the ex-CJN who retired from service on August 28.<\/p>\n
NBA\/CJN Face-Off<\/strong><\/p>\nThe crisis of confidence rocking the judiciary was further heightened when the out gone Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Justice Katsina-Alu, called the bluff of the NBA, by swearing-in 30 new Senior Advocates of Nigeria, SANs, while leading light of the Bar conspicuously refused to attend the August occasion of swearing-in of new silks.<\/p>\n
The occasion, which was equally boycotted by the Body of Benchers and legal luminaries across the federation, marked the last official assignment performed by the CJN who retired upon clocking the 70 years mandatory retirement age for judicial officers within that cadre.<\/p>\n
NBA which was having its annual general conference in Port Harcourt, had specifically warned lawyers and the recipients of the SAN award, to boycott the swearing-in ceremony, stressing that, “any legal practitioner that attended the ceremony will not be referred to by members of the NBA with any rank.<\/p>\n
As the umbrella body of legal practitioners in the country, NBA had written to the former CJN, asking him to follow the tradition of the judiciary by deferring the ceremony till September 19, which was not only the originally slated date for the event, but equally marks the beginning of a fresh legal year.<\/p>\n
It queried the urgency on the part of the former CJN to conduct the swearing-in ceremony before vacating office, noting that it would not be in the interest of the celebrants to host the event within the Muslim Ramadan period.<\/p>\n
More so, it is customary for every sitting president of the NBA to deliver a speech at such legal event, a period that accord them ample opportunity to offer constructive criticism on any perceived anomaly in the profession.<\/p>\n
Meantime, despite NBA’s threat, all the 30 SAN awardees, presented themselves for the purpose of being administered oath of office by the retired CJN.<\/p>\n
They justified the decision on the premise that their primary allegiance should be to the Supreme Court of Nigeria which they said granted them licence to practise as lawyers in the country and not the NBA.<\/p>\n
Pre and Post Election petitions<\/strong><\/p>\nAside from the internal wrangling that characterized this legal year, various court rooms were also caught in the election frenzy that engulfed the country in April general elections.<\/p>\n
Without prejudice to the absurdities that manifested in so many conflicting interim court injunctions that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC grappled with, before, and after the general elections, there is still suspense on the actual expiration date of tenure of five sitting governors.<\/p>\n
The expectations followed a judgment that was delivered on February 23 by trial Justice Adamu Bello of the Abuja Federal High Court, extending the tenure of the governors till next year.<\/p>\n
Specifically, Justice Bello, relying on section 180 (2) of the 1999 constitution, set dates for the expiration of their tenure as, Governor Ibrahim Idris, Kogi, April 5, 2012; Aliyu Wammakko, Sokoto, May 8, 2012, Timipre Sylva, Bayelsa, May 29, 2012, Liyel Imoke, Cross River, August 28, 2012, and Murtala Nyako, Adamawa, April 30, 2012.<\/p>\n
Though INEC appealed the verdict, the Abuja Division of the appellate court on April 15, dismissed the appeal and affirmed the earlier decision of the trial court, thereby, resulting to the electoral body taking the case before the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n
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Abdulwahab Abdulah and Ikechukwu Nnochiri 29 December 2011 analysis Since inception, the Nigerian judiciary may not have attracted as much public attention and opprobrium to itself than it did this outgoing year. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\n
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