Though the suspended President of the Court of Appeal (PCA), Justice Isa Salami, will bow out on Octoebr 51, 2013, legal pundits argue that there is the need for stakeholders to make a definite pronouncement on his suspension and his recall before he attain the mandatory retirement age,   Abdullahi Olesin writes.

Thursday, September 19, 2013 will forever remain green in the memory of the retiring President of the Court of Appeal (PCA), Justice Isa Ayo Salami.

That was the day eminent jurists; serving and retired as well as prominent lawyers and astute administrators from far and near gathered in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital to honour the erudite Jurist.

The event was the public presentation of a book titled, " Nigerian Judiciary: Contemporary Issues On Administration Of Justice."

The book was put together by the Ilorin branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in honour of Salami.

Though Salami was humiliated by the powers that be, the event clearly showed that his uprightness was appreciated by his colleaques and well meaning Nigerians.

It was therefore not surprising that issues relating to ‘the bench and corruption' dominated the talks at the book presentation.

In his address, the chairman of Ilorin Branch of the NBA, Mr. Rafiu Balogun, urged the federal government to review Salami's case and recall him accordingly.

"We believe it is not too late to right the wrong because Salami served this nation creditable well", Balogun said.

According to Salami, the failure of the federal government to reinstate Salami as recommended by t he National Judicial Council (NJC) is not acceptable to right thinking Nigerians.

A former Attorney General of the Federation , Chief Akin Olujimi a(SAN),  who  chaired the event, berated the national body of lawyers; the NBA, for not having done' enough' in fighting for the reinstatement of Salami .

Olujimi  berated his colleague silks and some of Salami's colleagues in the Court of Appeal, arguing that several of them who first stood with the embattled Jurist have abandoned him in the middle of the battle.

He added, "I notice that the NBA Ilorin has made some resolutions on the matter and I note that the national body has also made some comments. But we are yet to see action from the NBA. I expect to see the national body actively involved in this action. The NBA is a very important body that you will rarely ignore. But at some point in time that body has not acted as it should.

"When the matter started, a few of our senior colleagues came out to say they are part of the struggle but after some time, they faded out. Money can be a bad thing; it can make you change. We know human rights activists all over the world and how the stand up to uphold what is right but here some of them have abandoned the cause of human rights. I am not saying this because I am his counsel; the truth is that the man did nothing wrong.

"The ruling party believes that once a matter is before the court, it must go its way and once you have a judge who is not working in its favour, they descend on him with fury. I know that Salami has not done anything wrong. It started in Sokoto where he discovered that a matter had been left unattended to for a long time and he decided to open the case, not knowing that it was kept in the cooler for certain reasons.

"We talk of corruption in Nigeria today and we mention the court. We hear stories. When a judge takes money from a politician we hear, one way or the other because nothing can be secret for long. We know them and even if they do it in secret we know; because we hear. What I just want to say to them is that even if man does not know, God knows and one day you will stand before his judgment.

"The battle is still on and we expect that the wrong done to him would be corrected. The NJC has revoked his suspension and one would have expected them to recall him but they have failed in that regard. The matter of the discipline of a judge starts and ends with the NJC; that was where the former NJC got things wrong when it invited the President into the matter but now the new one has been able to identify that error; the President has nothing to do with the discipline of a judge."

The immediate past  Vice Chancellor of the University of Ilorin, Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, also expressed deep concerns that given the insinuations about the judiciary at the event, Nigeria was sitting literally on a keg of gunpowder, adding that if what has happened to Salami is allowed to go unchecked, Nigerians should begin to find their ways out of the country.

Responding to the avalanche of encomiums poured on him by eminent personalities present at the event, Justice Salami thanked God for helping him not to cave into temptations during his tenure in the exalted office.

The eminent jurist said that, in spite of what happened to him, he remained a very happy man, saying that, "I have not for a moment, regretted what I did. I am very happy for what I did and I proud of what I did. I thank God Almighty".

The jurist, who appeared overwhelmed by the encomiums poured on him by the dignitaries that thronged the venue of the book presentation said, "Left to me I might have failed, but Allah guided me and I acted the way he wanted me to act".

"All these encomiums that you have attributed to me I thank all for that. I know they came from the bottom of your heart. But don't let us forget that it is not my acts but Allah that led me that way. Left to me I might have failed, but Allah guided me and I acted the way he wanted me to act. Like any human being I am subject to human foibles but with Allah behind me, I succeeded in avoiding the temptation.

"Because it was a temptation which l refused to cave into. I will not go into details today but just to thank all of you for finding time to come and celebrate with us. I appreciate and love all of you members of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Ilorin branch", he stated.

The elated Salami added, "To my colleagues at the Bench we thank God for your lives. They thought we are rebels but God is vindicating us now. Clara Ogunbiyi is already in Supreme Court, Ariwoola is also there. Kekere-Ekum who was stigmatised is also in the Supreme Court and I pray that all of you will be abundantly rewarded and you will succeed and get to the pinnacle of the Nigerian judiciary. And the spirit you have now embraced will lead you there and when you are there disseminate the message because there is only one side to justice.

"The law applies to the fact and that is the decision of the court. Please do justice according to your conscience. I am very grateful for the support you gave me during those days when we were writing answers to queries as if it was our work to be answering queries. You get one today we would answer it. Nweze would leave for Ilorin by the time he got to Ilorin he had got another one; but we were able to answer them.

"You are all aware of the call log issue, none of them, not a single one showed that I ever called Tinubu, Lai Mohammed the ACN chieftains they were referring to.

"We went to the tribunal with witnesses (experts) who were able to show the NJC that you could use my phone in my pocket to call somebody. The experts demonstrated it at NJC. You could use my phone which in my pocket to send text messages to another person. All these call logs were fake, but we thank God we survived all the efforts to paint us black.

"A question was asked and I said Katsina-Alu called to ask me to dismiss Sokoto Appeal and he said no he didn't call for that; that he called to say that the judgment had leaked. He testified before the NJC and I did my own.

The chairman of the panel said that the information about leakage was derived from the petition written against me. There was nothing of such in the petition against me. There was nothing to say against my defence. Is it not in the absence of any evidence to the contrary they should accept my own. They never did that they said my own was unfounded. Did I go there for a tea party? So we just leave everything to God Almighty who is the final arbiter. I assure you all that in spite of what happened I am a very happy man. I have not for a moment, regretted what I did. I am very happy for what I did and I proud of what I did. I thank God Almighty."

The Emir of Ilorin, Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu Gambari was represented at the ceremony by the Magaji of Baboko, the Kwara State Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed was represented by the state Attorney-General and commissioner for Justice, Mr. Kamaldeen Ajibade while his Osun State's counterpart, Mr. Wale Afolabi represented Governor Rauf Aregbesola.