http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/salamis-successor-reshuffles-presidential-election-tribunal/97752/
From Tobi Soniyi in Abuja


The acting President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Dalhatu Adamu, has redeployed a member of the Presidential Election Tribunal, Justice Mohammed Garba, possibly setting the stage for the reconstitution of the panel.

A source confirmed the redeployment yesterday, saying Garba has been replaced with Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa from the Yola Division of the Court of Appeal.

Garba, who is believed to be a close ally of the suspended President of the court, Justice Ayo Salami, it was learnt, was transferred to the Calabar Division of the court.

Another justice who is also an associate of Salami, Justice Paul Galinje, has been transferred from the Abuja Division of the court to the Port Harcourt Division.

Until his transfer last week, Garba was the presiding justice of the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal.

Last Monday, he presided over the hearing of the petition filed by the Congress for Progressive Change challenging the declaration of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan as the winner of the April presidential election.

It could not be confirmed if the tribunal which comprises Justice M.A. Owoade, I.I. Agbube and Ogbande Ogbuinya will be completely disbanded to pave the way for its reconstitution.

Salami’s suspension had reduced the panel membership from five to four. Prior to his suspension, Salami chaired the presidential election petition tribunal.

The tribunal, which began sitting in May, has six months under the law to conclude hearing of the petition on the presidential election.

If the panel is disbanded, a new set of justices would have to begin afresh the hearing into the CPC’s petition, thus making the determination of the presidential election petition within six months a challenge to conclude.

The National Judicial Council suspended Salami on August 25 and recommended him for retirement from the bench following his refusal to apologise to the council and the former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Aloysius Katsina-Alu, after a panel of the council found him to have wrongly accused the former CJN of arresting the judgment of the Court of Appeal on the Sokoto State governorship election dispute.

The redeployment of the two justices came in the wake of movement of some registrars of the court.

Prior to the redeployment of Garba and Galinje, Adamu was said to be under pressure to reconstitute the presidential election petition tribunal and shake up the Court of Appeal.

It was learnt that Adamu was being pressured to reconstitute the presidential election petition tribunal, a move which some lawyers and politicians said would send the dangerous signal to the public.

While acknowledging that Adamu has the constitutional powers to redeploy any justice of the Court of Appeal, a legal expert explained that his action could be misinterpreted given the circumstances under which he came into office.

But one of the counsel in the petition before the tribunal said: “If the panel is reconstituted, none of the parties will lose anything because we have not reached the hearing stage.

“We are still at the preliminary stage which can be handled by any judge. Once a petition is at the hearing stage, you cannot change the judges.

“But I don’t think outright disbandment will be okay because once such a step is taken, petitioners will start to read meanings into it. To me, there is nothing in the petition of the CPC; the panel should be allowed to remain or else, we will end up with a well-deserved judgment being beclouded by political sentiments.”

The CPC had alleged after Salami’s suspension that his removal was aimed at frustrating its petition.

The party, in a statement in Abuja by its National Publicity Secretary, Engr. Rotimi Fashakin, had queried what it described as “the hush-hush manner” in which President Goodluck Jonathan approved the NJC’s recommendation for the suspension of the former President of the Court of Appeal.

Last week, the National Chairman of the Conference of Nigeria Political Parties, Alhaji Balarabe Musa, described Salami’s suspension as an attempt by Jonathan to defeat justice in the presidential election petition tribunal.

He alleged that Salami’s suspension had given credibility to speculations that Jonathan would interfere with the decision of the presidential election petition tribunal, claiming that Salami was suspended to pave the way for manipulation at the tribunal.

“What has happened has further given credibility to our speculations, the judiciary is once more being used as tool by the executive arm of government,” he said.

Tags: Election Tribunal, Featured, News, Nigeria

these barbarians have no shame.
no pretence whatsoever.
is this fresh air?

We all know that is the purpose of removing Salami

I dont understand why jonathan is afraid and i also dont understand why judges would compromise judgments in the quest for power. Its just ridiculous

seanet02:

We all know that is the purpose of removing Salami

Salami abi na ham misbehaved and had to be punished.

day light robbery. i pity nigeria

It could not be confirmed if the tribunal which comprises Justice M.A. Owoade, I.I. Agbube and Ogbande Ogbuinya will be completely disbanded to pave the way for its reconstitution.

Salami’s suspension had reduced the panel membership from five to four. Prior to his suspension, Salami chaired the presidential election petition tribunal.

The tribunal, which began sitting in May, has six months under the law to conclude hearing of the petition on the presidential election.

If the panel is disbanded, a new set of justices would have to begin afresh the hearing into the CPC’s petition, thus making the determination of the presidential election petition within six months a challenge to conclude.

YIKES!!

but we all knew where this was headed - Nigeria is sooooooo predictable - but as usual we all sit on the fence and hope it never gets to be our turn one day.

The Dam will breach one day and everything will come tumbling down in a flood of catastrophe for Nigerians, one day

yikes [img]http://2.s07.flagcounter.com/count/DymW/bg=E6E6E5/txt=E6E6E5/border=E6E6E5/columns=1/maxflags=1/viewers=3/labels=0/[/img]
[img]http://s07.flagcounter.com/count/DymW/bg=E6E6E5/txt=E6E6E5/border=E6E6E5/columns=1/maxflags=1/viewers=3/labels=0/[/img]

Hmmm fresh air indeed. I never expect anything good from Gej, so i wont be suprise by all the steps he is taking. Its is his own time to eat the national cake. Na turn by turn

we all know d reason he was removed so dat it will frustrate buhari and co. but not to worry there is time for everything.

I dont know why ethnicity or political party affiliation always becloud some people's sense of reasoning. I cant imagine somebody posting on this forum that Salami misbehave and need to be punished. Before a judicial officer can be removed, two third of the senate must concur to NJC reccomendation but due to illegality that is involved in the so called NJC kangaroo reccommendation, GEJ know quite well that he cannot get two third from the senate thereby resulting to wuruwuru.
Back to the issue, when Jonathan was declared the winner, I thought he won the election fair and square but events I am seeing clearly shows that the April Election was far from credible.
First, tribunal ruled that INEC should allow CPC access to all ballot papers used for the election for the purpose of forensic examination but INEC refused and instead they gave CPC photocopies in when they know that photocopy is not suitable for forensic analysis. The question is if the election is credible as they clain, why are they afraid to release the election materials?
Secondly, they illegally suspended Salami, they appointed Adamu, Adamu got there, his first assignment is to reshuffle the presidential tribunal to his own men there that will do the bidding of GEJ and PDP.
As adage says" bird cried yesterday, the child died today, nobody will dispute the fact that the bird that cried yesterday was responsible for today's death of the child"

A man that folds his arm when injustice is done to others would one day find others folding their arms when injustice is done to him.

To thy tent oh isreal.

Kolababa:

I dont know why ethnicity or political party affiliation always becloud some people's sense of reasoning. I cant imagine somebody posting on this forum that Salami misbehave and need to be punished. Before a judicial officer can be removed, two third of the senate must concur to NJC reccomendation but due to illegality that is involved in the so called NJC kangaroo reccommendation, GEJ know quite well that he cannot get two third from the senate thereby resulting to wuruwuru.

Salami abi na ham was a corrupt judge and needed to go. Barawo judge.

omogidi234:

A man that folds his arm when injustice is done to others would one day find others folding their arms when injustice is done to him.

To thy tent oh isreal.

Hahahaha, you are talking to people from the Niger Delta. What the eff do you know about injustice?

Corruption must be stamped out decisively in the judiciary which had become a laughing stock both at home and abroad with two of its top officers quarrelling openly and on the pages of the press. Phucking disgusting!

Salami is corrupt and tainted.

Katsina-Alu his opponent is gone; naturally, Salami and everything his hand touched are gone too. Lets crocodiles cry wretched tears, Nigeria must continue to make progress toward moral rectitude and civilisation.

i pity nigerian government, isnt this zainab bulkachuwa the same judge that was used to chair election tribunals during the 2007 elections, delivering sone funny/contradictory judgements in sokoto and kebbi states, bauchi etc, She was moved from one judicial division to the other, where ever any dirty deal needs to be done, its always her, And her husband was later made an ambassador for a job weldone, Nigeria we hail thee.

Wuruwuru judge

Kolababa:

I dont know why ethnicity or political party affiliation always becloud some people's sense of reasoning. I cant imagine somebody posting on this forum that Salami misbehave and need to be punished. Before a judicial officer can be removed, two third of the senate must concur to NJC reccomendation but due to illegality that is involved in the so called NJC kangaroo reccommendation, GEJ know quite well that he cannot get two third from the senate thereby resulting to wuruwuru.
Back to the issue, when Jonathan was declared the winner, I thought he won the election fair and square but events I am seeing clearly shows that the April Election was far from credible.
First, tribunal ruled that INEC should allow CPC access to all ballot papers used for the election for the purpose of forensic examination but INEC refused and instead they gave CPC photocopies in when they know that photocopy is not suitable for forensic analysis. The question is if the election is credible as they clain, why are they afraid to release the election materials?
Secondly, they illegally suspended Salami, they appointed Adamu, Adamu got there, his first assignment is to reshuffle the presidential tribunal to his own men there that will do the bidding of GEJ and PDP.
As adage says" bird cried yesterday, the child died today, nobody will dispute the fact that the bird that cried yesterday was responsible for today's death of the child"

Thump up!

mbulela:

these barbarians have no shame.
no pretence whatsoever.
is this fresh air?

Some perspective here
Salami has been accused of taking bribes(amounting to about N5 billion) from Tinubu and ACN to swing the verdicts of state electoral tribunals in the past,now dont you think it's possible the corrupt justice Salami may have shared the loot with some members of his constituted tribunal,therefore the most reasonable thing to do in the circumstance is to joggle the composition of that panel

Wise move

Beaf:

Corruption must be stamped out decisively in the judiciary which had become a laughing stock both at home and abroad with two of its top officers quarrelling openly and on the pages of the press. Phucking disgusting!

Salami is corrupt and tainted.

Katsina-Alu his opponent is gone; naturally, Salami and everything his hand touched are gone too. Lets crocodiles cry wretched tears, Nigeria must continue to make progress toward moral rectitude and civilisation.

Actually the stamping out of corruption should have started from Aso Rock
Katsina Alu RETIRED! It would have happened with or without this case. That is not a punishment.
Salami was asked to go before his time was up. That is a punishment
Salami is not tainted
No evidence was found against him. He was only asked to apologise for accusing Katsina Alu of interference
It was decided that the Supreme court headed by Katsina Alu INTERFERED WITHOUT POWERS IN A THE SOKOTO GOVERNORSHIP CASE. What punishment did he get for this? Nothing.
The beneficiary was PDP
You are supporting it because you symphastise with PDP
Things go round. People who were happy with the destruction of Odi are not finding things funny now

rasputinn:

Some perspective here
Salami has been accused of taking bribes(amounting to about N5 billion) from Tinubu and ACN to swing the verdicts of state electoral tribunals in the past,now dont you think it's possible the corrupt justice Salami may have shared the loot with some members of his constituted tribunal,therefore the most reasonable thing to do in the circumstance is to joggle the composition of that panel

Wise move

Rasputin has been accused of stealing money belonging to his school. Don't you think it is possible that he he could do the same at work. He should be relieved of his job. Wise move

Our President claimed he didnt wear shoes when he was growing up but he had time and money to watch Mafia Films, cos now he is showing us the mafia style of having your own way 

Bros Jona I hail one.

And that is how the cookie crumbles ;

rasputinn:

Some perspective here
Salami has been accused of taking bribes(amounting to about N5 billion) from Tinubu and ACN to swing the verdicts of state electoral tribunals in the past,now dont you think it's possible the corrupt justice Salami may have shared the loot with some members of his constituted tribunal,therefore the most reasonable thing to do in the circumstance is to joggle the composition of that panel

Wise move

And the panel that was set up to nail him found him innocent from such. Your assumption is baseless.

BetaThings:

Rasputin has been accused of stealing money belonging to his school. Don't you think it is possible that he he could do the same at work. He should be relieved of his job. Wise move

Rasputin
Well I dont know never knew Rasputin,so you alone know what mumbo jumbo you tried to elicidate(Patrick Obahiagbon ) above

Demdem:

And the panel that was set up to nail him found him innocent from such. Your assumption is baseless.

Panel that was set up to nail him found him innocent?? tell me how Nigeria will move forward when you choose to close your eyes to facts when it suits you.
Well I wont bandy words or argue needlessly with you(no time),but Salami must be made to pay for collecting bribes from Tinubu to give him/ACN the governorship of certain known states

Tinubu's time will come,drug barons who loot the treasuries of states cannot continue to have their way all the time.

It's happening;and it feels good

babaniyen1:

i also dont understand why judges would compromise judgments in the quest for power. Its just ridiculous

Me too,but I guess Salami and his partner in crime Bola Tinubu are in a better position to enlighten us

rasputinn:

Panel that was set up to nail him found him innocent?? tell me how Nigeria will move forward when you choose to close your eyes to facts when it suits you.
[s]Well I wont bandy words or argue needlessly with you(no time),but Salami must be made to pay for collecting bribes from Tinubu to give him/ACN the governorship of certain known states

Tinubu's time will come,drug barons who loot the treasuries of states cannot continue to have their way all the time.

It's happening;and it feels good[/s]

Unnecessary comments cancelled
Show me THE FACTS and see if i wont be the first person calling for the prosecution of Salami.

@rasputinn

a biased panel was set up to investigate allegations levelled against salami and katsina-alu b each other.justice musdapher,the current CJN,was called as a witness by both salami and katsina-alu and we all know he chose to testify in favour of the katsina-alu.

If indeed salami was guilty of the accusations,why then did the panel find him innocent and directed him to apologise to the katsina-alu for false accusation regarding the sokoto tribunal.salami refused to apologise because he maintained that katsina-alu interferred in the sokoto petition and he headed to court.we all know the drama that played itself out with regards to the NJC refusing court service.any right thinking person would know there was a script been acted out.

Eventually the NJC headed by katsina-alu but presided over by the JUSTICE OF THE INDUSTRIAL COURT who happens to be numnber 13 in the hierachy of justices "suspended" salami for refusing to apologise,an action which directly conradicts the law which states that when a matter is before the court,all parties to the suit are to stay action on the matter till the determination of the suit.

@beaf

how difficult is i to trace 5billion naira?dont tell me tha almighty EFCC no longer has agens who can do that.oh,i forgot,they investigated and found nothing.if EFCC found nothing,where did you get your fallacies of 6billion from tinubu to salami?you probably have access to facts EFCC is not privy to.you have always been a PDP and shoeless,clueless joe ally so it doesnt suprise me that you see nothing wrong in clueless joe trampling upon the constituition to influence the petition against him.the constituition is clear on the removal of the top hierachy of justices.the president is to recommend such removal to the senate and must get a 2/3 majority to effect such removal.besides the case was already before a court so why did clueless joe have to authorise such actions?

Delafruita:

@rasputinn

a biased panel was set up to investigate allegations levelled against salami and katsina-alu b each other.justice musdapher,the current CJN,was called as a witness by both salami and katsina-alu and we all know he chose to testify in favour of the katsina-alu.

What is the source of your info and Who told you that the constituted panel is biased.it is better you have leave that for a competent law court to judge. And because somebody is a chief judge of Nigeria or president of high court, does that make them to be incorruptible?

^^^ Bias or not, a panel was set up to try Salami on all these allegations including the bribery issue. the panel sat and found him innocent in all these allegations except for the fact that he couldnt prove the allegation he leveled against the then CJN. he was afterwards asked to apologize to CJN which he refused.

Wasnt that what happened or u need a source to that also?

^^^

The panel sat and found him innocent