Nigeria’s Ex-chief Justice Moves To Sack Justice Salami’s Lawyers

Justice Aloysius Katsina – Alu, former Chief Justice of Nigeria and the man at the centre of the legal battle between the suspended former President of Court of Appeal, Justice Ayo Isa Salami and the National Judicial Council, NJC, over his ouster on Monday before a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja and presided by Justice Donatus Okorowo, moved to sack lawyers representing Justice Salami in the suit.

Chief Akin Olujinmi, a senior advocate of Nigeria, a former Attorney General of the Federation and Principal Partner of Akeredolu, Olujinmi & Co Chambers had been representing Justice Salami in the matter.

At the resumption of proceedings before the court today, the former CJN and the NJC filed an application seeking to join Chief Rotimi Akeredolu, also a senior advocate of Nigeria and Principal Partner of the firm representing Justice Salami as one of the respondents in the suit as Mr. Akeredolu is one of the members of the NJC.

The move was calculated to sack Chief Olujinmi who is the lead counsel to Salami since Akeredolu can not be pursuing a matter against himself before the court.

Counsel representing the NJC, Mr. Mike Ozekhome, also a senior advocate of Nigeria, attempted to move the motion seeking to join Akerodolu as a respondent in the suit but was challenged by Chief Olujinmi who insisted that the preliminary objections filled by the respondents challenging the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court to entertain the matter should be dispensed with before the application seeking to make Akeredolu a party in the matter can be heard.

Olujinmi posited that the issue of jurisdiction is a fundamental one which the court must look into and decide first before taking further steps on any other issue in the case.

In his response to Olujinmi’s submission, Mr. Ozekhome argued that the application for Akeredolu to be made a party in the suit as a member of the NJC should be heard first so that what ever decision the court takes on the issue of jurisdiction will equally be binding on him as well as other parties in the suit so as to forestall further delays which may be occasioned if the issue of jurisdiction is decided by the court before admitting Akeredolu as a party as he may challenge the court’s jurisdiction too.

Justice Okorowo subsequently adjourned to Tuesday 18th October, to rule on whether to hear the preliminary objection challenging his jurisdiction to hear the matter or the application seeking to join Akeredolu as one of the respondents in the case.

—Nnamdi Felix / Abuja