ABUJA—The Presidency yesterday took a swipe at critics of President Goodluck Jonathan over his role in the removal of the former President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Ayo Salami, and dismissed such critics as self serving.
Presidential Spokesman, Dr Reuben Abati, who fielded questions from State House Correspondents, at an interactive session, described the widespread criticism as unfair to the President; insisting that Jonathan acted swiftly to avoid vacuum that could lead to a constitutional lacuna.
Abati said If the President had decided to withhold the recommendations of the National Judicial Council, NJC, people who are criticising him now would have accused him of interfering with the work of the judiciary.
“So the principle of independence has to be respected but at the same time, the President has even provided an opportunity just to stay within the law and to fill that vacuum that has been created. It is the duty of the judiciary ultimately within the framework of the law to resolve the matter. The President is not a partner to this conflict as had been described and would be unfair, most unfair to use him as a scapegoat. And the surprising thing is that the people who are struggling very hard to drag him into it are not looking at the specific recommendations in the constitution, they are just making judicial pronouncements and dictating to the President what he should do outside the confines of the law and I believe they do so strictly for their own partisan interest”, he said.
Narrating the genesis of Jonathan’s involvement, the Presidential Spokesman said “on Sunday I issued a statement on this Salami matter and the statement is very clear, it is just a two paragraph statement. And that statement says the action that has been taken is in pursuance with the rule of law, the relevant sections of the law are quoted in that document and it says the President had taken this action until all the matters have been fully resolved”.
He however wondered why a cross section of Nigerians, in their reactions gave all kinds of interpretations to the statement, while some people have been making all kinds of judicial pronouncements. According to him, “everybody in Nigeria has suddenly become a judge and Mr. President is being turned into a scape goat in a matter in which he is completely innocent”.
He refuted claims that everybody has condemned the President’s action, and noted that he was in possession of two documents that suggested otherwise.
“I have two documents in my file. There is a statement by Tayo Oyetibo SAN, he is saying that the ‘appointment was made to fill the vacuum created by Salami’s suspension. The office of the President of the Court of Appeal is too important to be left in vacuum, the suspension created a vacuum to be filled. Salami has taken the matter to court and he is entitled to challenge his suspension in court and therefore we cannot comment on that.
The suspension is a fact which has happened and which created a vacuum and that vacuum has to be filled because there are many statutory functions which needed to be performed by the President of Court of Appeal and so there is need for that office to be occupied by somebody, so it cannot be left vacant”. This is a Nigerian, Tayo Oyetubo SAN, expressing an independent opinion”.
He explained that “what the President had done simply is to prevent this kind of vacuum and the law provides for that. The Acting President of Justice of the Court of Appeal is there in acting capacity until all the issues involved in this matter have been resolved. The President as leader of the country had the responsibility to ensure stability. If he had not acted he would have been criticized, he has acted he is also being criticized. But he has acted in the best interest of Nigerians to prevent a constitutional lacuna, a situation whereby the headship of the court of appeal becomes vacant and no action is being taken to ensure stability on that level”.
Presidential Spokesman, Dr Reuben Abati, who fielded questions from State House Correspondents, at an interactive session, described the widespread criticism as unfair to the President; insisting that Jonathan acted swiftly to avoid vacuum that could lead to a constitutional lacuna.
Abati said If the President had decided to withhold the recommendations of the National Judicial Council, NJC, people who are criticising him now would have accused him of interfering with the work of the judiciary.
“So the principle of independence has to be respected but at the same time, the President has even provided an opportunity just to stay within the law and to fill that vacuum that has been created. It is the duty of the judiciary ultimately within the framework of the law to resolve the matter. The President is not a partner to this conflict as had been described and would be unfair, most unfair to use him as a scapegoat. And the surprising thing is that the people who are struggling very hard to drag him into it are not looking at the specific recommendations in the constitution, they are just making judicial pronouncements and dictating to the President what he should do outside the confines of the law and I believe they do so strictly for their own partisan interest”, he said.
Justice Isa Ayo Salami and President Goodluck Jonathan
He however wondered why a cross section of Nigerians, in their reactions gave all kinds of interpretations to the statement, while some people have been making all kinds of judicial pronouncements. According to him, “everybody in Nigeria has suddenly become a judge and Mr. President is being turned into a scape goat in a matter in which he is completely innocent”.
He refuted claims that everybody has condemned the President’s action, and noted that he was in possession of two documents that suggested otherwise.
“I have two documents in my file. There is a statement by Tayo Oyetibo SAN, he is saying that the ‘appointment was made to fill the vacuum created by Salami’s suspension. The office of the President of the Court of Appeal is too important to be left in vacuum, the suspension created a vacuum to be filled. Salami has taken the matter to court and he is entitled to challenge his suspension in court and therefore we cannot comment on that.
The suspension is a fact which has happened and which created a vacuum and that vacuum has to be filled because there are many statutory functions which needed to be performed by the President of Court of Appeal and so there is need for that office to be occupied by somebody, so it cannot be left vacant”. This is a Nigerian, Tayo Oyetubo SAN, expressing an independent opinion”.
He explained that “what the President had done simply is to prevent this kind of vacuum and the law provides for that. The Acting President of Justice of the Court of Appeal is there in acting capacity until all the issues involved in this matter have been resolved. The President as leader of the country had the responsibility to ensure stability. If he had not acted he would have been criticized, he has acted he is also being criticized. But he has acted in the best interest of Nigerians to prevent a constitutional lacuna, a situation whereby the headship of the court of appeal becomes vacant and no action is being taken to ensure stability on that level”.
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