DESPITE the pendency of three different suits, the National Judicial Council (NJC) has decided to vote on the planned reinstatement of the suspended president of the Court of Appeal, Justice Ayo Isa Salami, at its next meeting fixed for February 29, the Nigerian Tribune has exclusively learnt.

Appointment of new judges for the Federal High Court, with Mrs Hadiza; daughter of the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Dahiru Musdpaher, pencilled in as an appointee, would also be considered same day.

As also exclusively reported by the Nigerian Tribune, Justice Musda-paher would not preside over the voting session or vote.

President, Customary Court of Appeal, Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Justice Moses Bello, had been reportedly pencilled in to preside over the voting session.

It was learnt through a system source that Bello was also in charge during the botched efforts to rally the members of the council to support the planned reinstatement, when the council met in the first two days of January.

Nigerian Tribune was told that Justice Musdapher wanted to push the issue for voting once and for all, despite the pendency of Salami’s suit challenging his suspension and other suits challenging the decision of the council to even discuss his matter.

Apart from calling the bluff of the pending cases, it was gathered that Justice Musdapher, who had reportedly been under intense pressure from both pro- and anti-Salami elements, had been contacting certain quarters to facilitate a smooth re-entry for Salami on February 29.

Salami, however, seemed unimpressed with the soft-landing arrangement of Musdapher, as he brought a fresh application before the Federal High Court on Thursday, claiming that the NJC was not his employers and had no disciplinary power over him.

He also asked the trial judge, Justice Donaltus Okorowo, to hands off the case, pending when the constitutional issues on the power of NJC to sanction him would be resolved by the Court of Appeal, to which he had taken the matter.

In the motion on notice filed by his counsel, Chief Akinlolu Olujinmi, Salami claimed that “his appointment enjoys security of tenure under the constitution and is devoid of the usual incidents of employer-employee relationship.”
In a notice of preliminary objection filed by the NJC to Salami’s motion, the council asked the court to transfer the dispute between them to the National Industrial Court, which it claimed had the right jurisdiction over the dispute.

Justice Okorowo fixed February 14 for hearing of the applications.

Another dimension was introduced into the saga with the chairman, Senate Committee on Judiciary, Senator Umaru Dahiru and Yahaya Mah-mood vowing to sue the Justice Mohammed Uwais judicial reform panel, describing its findings and recommendations on Salami as bare-face lies.

In a letter to the NJC and the head of the three-man sub-committee that recommended Salami’s reinstatement, Justice Mamman Nasir, the duo warned that they should not be used as scapegoats in the desperate attempts to bring Salami back to office.

When contacted on the letters, Mahmood confirmed their authenticity and told the Nigerian Tribune that he and the senator would be approaching the court if the NJC went ahead to use the panel report which indicted them to clear Salami.

It was learnt last night that Musdpaher had been told in clear terms by certain persons he had reportedly lobbied about Salami that he should be prepared to resign if he brought back Salami, since the perjury case would now be on him.

Another unresolved issue was whether the council could bring him back on its own without recourse to President Goodluck Jonathan, who appointed the acting president of the Court of Appeal, Justice Dalhatu Adamu, based on the recommendation of the NJC.

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