“I’m vindicated” says Dingyadi ||  “Don’t kill democracy”Skekarau warns PDP  ||  Sequel to the decision of the National Judicial Commission (NJC) to quash the proposed promotion of the president of the Court of Appeal, Justice Ayo Isa Salami, to the Supreme Court, some political parties have called for the removal of the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Aloysius Katsina-Alu.The  All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) are leading the call for the removal of the CJN, while other politicians that spoke to LEADERSHIP called for proper investigations into the allegations raised by Salami.

Presidential candidate of the ANPP, Alhaji Ibrahim Shekarau, has described the judicial tussle as the last straw that could break the back of constitutional democracy in the country.He spoke through the Shekarau for Nigeria (SfN) Campaign Organisation and emphasised that politics within the judiciary would lead to poor adjudication, lamenting that this is not first time the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was involved in manipulation of the judiciary.This is even as the appellant  in  the  suit  in  the  Sokoto  State  gubernatorial  election in  2007,  Alhaji  Muhammadu  Maigari  Dingyadi,  declared  yesterday  that  the  face-off  between  the  CJN  and  Salami  has  vindicated  him.

Dingyadi  was  the  gubernatorial  candidate  of  the  Democratic  Peoples  Party (DPP)  in  Sokoto  State  in  the  2007  general  election in  which  the  Independent  National  Electoral  Commission (INEC)  declared  Alhaji  Aliyu  Magatakarda  Wamakko  of  the  PDP  as  the  winner.The  DPP  candidate  had  gone  to  the  election  tribunal  to  contest  the  victory.Dingyadi,  in  his  reaction, told LEADERSHIP:  “I  see  this  as  a  kind  of  lesson  to  our  leaders  in  this  country  to  always  endeavour  to  be  upright  on  the  part  of  justice  because  at  the  end  of  the  day,  no  matter  how  long,  justice  will  prevail.“This  is  a  matter  that  started  in  the  board  room  between  two  persons  and,  today,  it  has  ended  in  the public  court.  What  has  happened  will give  Nigerians  an  opportunity  of  knowing  what  had  been  happening  underground.”

In  its  reaction,  the  CNPP  said  owing to the  fact  that  the CJN  compromised,  he  should  resign  for  his  alleged  role  in  the  Sokoto  electoral  tribunal proceedings.

National  publicity secretary  of  CNPP,  Mr.  Osita  Okechukwu  said  that  the  CJN  could  not  “preside  over  the  temple  of  justice  with  unclean  hands.  If  the  court  is  to  remain  the  last  bastion  of  hope  for  the  aggrieved,  the  court  must  be  presided  over  by  men  of  impeccable  character,  high integrity  and  uncommon  transparency,  which  the  CJN  has  not  demonstrated”.

On  its  part, the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) has called on the National Assembly to as a matter of urgency pass a resolution prompting President Goodluck Jonathan to remove Katsina-Alu over what it termed “gross misconduct”.

Speaking to LEADERSHIP yesterday in Abuja, a member of the National Working Committee of the ANPP and Adamawa State chairman of the party, Umar Duhu said the incident that surrounded the promotion of Salami raised doubt on the transparency and credibility of the judicial system in the  country.According to Duhu, “Justice Aloysius Katsina-Alu should be sacked for  incompetence because he is not happy with the judgement widely accepted by Nigerians at the Court of Appeal and wanted to bring in his stooge.“The National Assembly should pass a resolution advising the president to sack the Chief Justice over gross incompetence. If he is not removed, it will affect the credibility of the judicial system in the country”.

The national publicity secretary, ANPP, Hon. Emma Eneukwu, said that if adequate actions were not taken, the judiciary would be brought to disrepute. “This is an allegation that calls for proper investigation and urgent action. Nigerians are not happy with the current happening in the judicial system. This allegation further raises doubt on the leadership of the Nigerian judiciary considering various election petitions that have been happening in the country”.

The presidential candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Malam Nuhu Ribadu, has  also faulted the timing of the whole exercise, considering that the Court of Appeal under Salami had delivered some remarkable political judgements that led to the change of administration in three states, to therefore, attempt to remove him from the Appeal Court, which was supposed to be the final arbiter in a gubernatorial election dispute on the eve of general election would surely send the wrong signals.He said: “I think the judiciary should try as much as possible to distance itself from partisan politics, if the institution were to maintain its traditional credibility and respect before Nigerians and the international community.

“The unnecessary furor over the promotion of the president of the Court of Appeal and the subsequent rejection of same is capable of creating tension and heating up of the polity”, Ribadu stated in a statement signed by the director of media and communication of his campaign organisation, Alhaji Ibrahim Modibbo.The national publicity secretary  of  the  CPC,  Mr.  Rotimi  Fasaki,  said  that  the  party  was  calling  for  an  investigation to  find  out  what  actually  transpired  between  the  two  top  judiciary  officers.

According  to  him,  the  allegations  from  both  sides  were  weighty  and  capable  of  eroding  the  confidence  the  people  have  in  the  judiciary,  adding  that  everything  is  still  in  the  realm of  speculation.

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