PDP ATTACKS JUSTICE SALAMI OVER COMMENTS ON JONATHAN, NJC

The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has criticized the former President of the Court of Appeal, Ayo Salami, for accusing President Goodluck Jonathan as well as some judges and members of the National Judicial Council, NJC, of unfair treatment and betrayal.

Salami, during the public presentation of a book written on him, and at a valedictory session of the Court of Appeal in his honour, stated that a former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Kastina-Alu, victimized him for refusing to grant him favour.
“I was invited by the then CJN, Justice Katsina-Alu to his chambers on the 8th of February, 2010, using Justice Dahiru Musdapher’s phone, and when I got there, I met them together (Justice Musdapher was the next in line to him at the Supreme Court),” he recalled.

“He (Katsina-Alu) instructed me to direct the Justices of the Sokoto Appeal to dismiss the appeal of the Democratic Peoples Party governorship candidate and I responded that I could not do so.
At the event, chairman of the event and a former CJN, Justice Mohammed Uwais, had insisted that the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria had no powers to suspend, or recall any Justice.

He said the NJC erred by referring Salami’s suspension to the President, adding that the NJC was not fair to Justice Salami.
But the PDP in a statement on Monday, signed by its spokesperson, Olisa Metuh, accused Salami of trying to distort facts and history.

Its said contrary to his claims, the NJC had found Salami guilty of perjuring himself, and lying against the then Chief Justice of Nigeria, Aloysius Katsina-Alu.
He said it was public knowledge that the Council suspended Mr. Salami following his refusal to abide by its directive to apologise to Mr. Katsina-Alu. He added that, based on this, the NJC had also recommended Mr. Salami’s retirement to President Jonathan.

“It is also public knowledge that President Jonathan, being a man governed by the Rule of Law, refused to take sides or interfere in the matter, and chose to allow the judiciary sort out its complications in the Salami affairs, more so as Justice Salami had gone to court to challenge the findings of the NJC,” Mr. Metuh said.
According to Metuh, evidence given by MTN Nigeria, in an open court, indicated that call logs tendered in evidence were in fact true records of a series of calls between leaders of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN and Salami.

It would be recalled that Salami upturned governorship elections in Osun, Ekiti and Edo States in favour of the then ACN governor.

Continuing, the spokesman said “Nigerians are no fools. Justice Salami’s public romance with the beneficiaries of the controversial ruling of his Court, including governors who won their seats by virtue of the ruling and as well as other ACN chieftains at his book launch recently, openly betrays the hidden facts regarding the handling of the election appeals under him. This clearly raised issues regarding his culpability by association to pervert the course of justice in the issue.
 
“Nigerians should note that under the administration of President Jonathan, separation of powers and respect for the rule of law have been the hallmark, such that, there has been no Executive/Legislative face-off and court judgments have been obeyed.”
He said under the administration, elections have been free, fair and credible and have resulted in an over 100 percent reduction in election petition cases.

“Our candid advice to Justice Salami is that it is impossible to gain the confidence of new friends by betraying old friends,” concluded the statement.