Suspended Judge seeks speedy decisions on case

Ousted former President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Ayo Isa Salami on Thursday moved for a speedy adjudication of his case as he sought for a referral of certain aspects of his case against the National Judicial Council, NJC, to the Court of Appeal for determination.

In the application filed on his behalf by a team of lawyers led by Chief Akin Olujinmi, a senior advocate of Nigeria and former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Salami noted that whatever the outcome of the Federal High Court’s decision on the issue of jurisdiction, that it will most likely be challenged by either of the parties at the appellate court and therefore applied that the issue be referred to the Court of Appeal for speedy resolution to achieve the order of expedited hearing earlier granted by the court in the matter.

The case which had suffered series of delays is still at the preliminary stage and the substantive issues are yet to be deliberated upon.

The Council, represented by Mr. Mike Ozhekome in his submissions argued that Justice Salami’s application for referral was not ripe for hearing and informed the court that the preliminary objection which it filed challenging the court’s jurisdiction to entertain Salami’s suit was earlier in time and had to be heard first before the former President of Court of Appeal’s application for referral can be heard.

Ozhekome hinged his argument on the ground that if the court finds that it has no jurisdiction to entertain the suit, then it will not even have any power for referral to excercise over the matter.

According to Ozhekome, “This court must decide the priority of applications. Ours is a notice of preliminary objection to the substance of this case, whether this court should go on with the case of wash its hands off the matter while theirs is seeking for the referral of some aspects of the matter to the Court of Appeal, theirs encourages this court to take steps in the matter. If you find that you don’t have jurisdiction, the issue of referral to the Court of Appeal will no longer be necessary. Our application ought to be taken first to enable the court to decide whether or not it has jurisdiction before the issue of referral can be entertained”.

The NJC in their pending motion on notice of preliminary objection is claiming that the subject matter of the suit is related to work place relations, labour and conditions of service which only the National Industrial Court has exclusive jurisdiction by virtue of section 254 (C) (1) of the nation’s constitution as amended.

It also contends that the claims being sought by Justice Salami are caught in the exclusivity of the jurisdiction of the National Industrial Court by virtue of section 254 (C) (1) (a), (j) (vii) and (11) of the constitution. The Council therefore insist that the Federal High Court lacks the jurisdiction to entertain the matter.

Chief Olujinmi objected to the NJC’s line of argument and insisted that since he has served the parties the application for referral, that the proper thing is for them to respond formally so that he can reply on points of law if need be and not the system being adopted by Ozhekome who is yet to file any response to their application.

Justice Donatus Okorowo therefater adjourned the matter to 14th of February to enable both the NJC and other members of the panel whose recommendations led to the sack of Salami, to file their responses to ousted jurist’s application for referral.