The National Judicial Council (NJC) on Sunday evening came under knocks from the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), over its purported suspension and recommendation of retirement of the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Isa Salami.
Also, the NBA has directed its members to stay away from the swearing-in ceremony of the new Senior Advocates scheduled for August 26.
These were part of the resolutions reached at a Pre-Conference meeting of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the NBA in Port Harcourt.www.mannastores.com
The NEC which adopted virtually all the recommendations of the NBA President, Mr. Joseph Daudu (SAN) had expressed surprise that the NJC could proceed to suspend and take other disciplinary actions against Justice Salami despite a pending suit on the matter. Mr. Daudu had pointed out to the NEC that it was not in doubt that the NJC was aware of the pending suit.
From undisputed facts available to us, NJC was aware of the pendency of the above law suit. This is clear from the press statement signed by its secretary and published in many national dailies between August 18 and 20, 2011. I have it on irrefutable authority that the NJC decided to proceed with their action in the face of pending court proceedings.”
Quoting cupiously from Section 158 of the 1999 Constitution, the NBA president queried whether the provision allows the council to proceed with the action regardless of the pendency of court proceedings.“I will like to say straight away that Section 158 is not an ouster clause to the powers of the court to intervene and correct any perceived error made by the NJC which has provided a cause of action to the injured party.” He reasoned that, “if the framers of the constitution had wanted to exclude courts from interfering in the process of the NJC, it would have expressly said so,” adding that “the matter was clearly sub judice when the NJC proceeded with its actions on August 18, 2011.”
Consequently, the NEC of the association condemned the actions of the NJC in going into a matter that “was and is still” before a superior court of record. “It is a matter of great regret and shame that a judicial organisation of the calibre of the NJC can ride roughshod over the processes of a court of law. The implication for Nigerian judicial process is catastrophic, if not remedied; we are witnessing the slide into anarchy and lawlessness which history will record as having been fired up by the judiciary (a part of the legal profession). We shall not sit idly and watch our profession ridiculed and brought into disrepute in the public domain.”
The NEC also agreed that the NBA should withdraw her members from the NJC pending when appropriate amendment to the constitution would be made. The NEC specifically stressed the need to increased Bar’s membership from five to 10, restructure membership and functions “in such a way as to make the body functional and less prone to dictatorship and abuse” and remove any dichotomy that seeks to provide levels of membership.
It advised the president to stop any action on the NJC’s recommendation and urged the council to “revert to status quo ante.”
Also, the NBA leadership directed its members to boycott the swearing-in ceremony of newly appointed Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN) slated for August 26. This was because the association saw the date which clashed with events at the NBA Conference including the closing ceremony as “an affront and disrespect to the entire Bar” particularly when the NBA president had notified the Chief Justice of Federation (CJN) of the Port Harcourt Conference since February this year.
The NEC warned that any legal practitioner that attends the ceremony would not be referred to by members of the NBA with any rank he possessed. Also, defaulters of the order would be stripped of membership of any committee or body that the NBA participates in.
The main conference starts today.
