No I totally believe Justice Ayo Salami period...I believe and see this in the prism of an ordinary Nigerian. The sin of Justice Salami in the eye of the opponents is simple “Justice Salami has broken decades old code of silence, never to speak up against the powers that be in the Judiciary even if it is a matter that questions integrity and misconduct of Judges and leadership of the judiciary, as such he must be dealt with appropriately as a deterrent to others who might do the same or follow his lead.”
No I totally believe Justice Ayo Salami period...I believe and see this in the prism of an ordinary Nigerian. The sin of Justice Salami in the eye of the opponents is simple “Justice Salami has broken decades old code of silence, never to speak up against the powers that be in the Judiciary even if it is a matter that questions integrity and misconduct of Judges and leadership of the judiciary, as such he must be dealt with appropriately as a deterrent to others who might do the same or follow his lead.”
In Adolf Hitler’s Germany, Josef Goebbels was the megaphone and the propaganda machine of the Nazi Germany; he disseminates information from the third Reich, to the German people. He is the spokes man of the evil regime that planned and killed over 6 million people. In that Nazi Germany, discontent voices were shouted down and stifled and so it was until Nazi Germany was overrun by the allied forces and did away with Hitler’s third
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Reich…misinformation was the order of the day. In our Nigeria today we have Josef Goebbels’s kind of Journalists/propaganda machineries and they are trying to swallow the voice of the majority, shout down the voice of reason and those who speak up against corruption and illegality especially the brewing controversy in the nation’s judiciary. But the unfortunate thing for them is that, the medium of communication and information dissemination monopoly is out of their reach and they are scrambling for every straw they can hold on to, to catch up with challenges and questions of the Nigerian people who want an independent Judiciary that adjudicates for everyone --poor and rich, big and small, ugly and beautiful.
Thankfully, Nigeria is a moving train, those who try to delay it will fall by the way side and left far behind, that will happen to people like Atsar Terver the rest of the Josef Goebbels like propaganda machine that wants to keep the status quo, Keep the old order; keep the domination of the click and gang that has given us a judiciary that delivers injustice 100 times over than justice. In Nigeria we have a Judiciary that is more inclined and interested in giving ridicules injunctions to the highest bidder and go into incommunicado. ..A judiciary that gives perpetual injunction to an accused so as to dodge prosecution and charges and …a judiciary that gives a clean bill of health to criminals and releases them into the society…wa oh! --the list of the sins of Judiciary is legion, the references to faulty judgment is uncountable, honest and incorruptible former judges and present judges can be counted on our fingers...A judiciary that is more interested in discussing cases on telephone, in their bedrooms and living rooms than in the court of law.
A judiciary that adjudicates not on law or constitution, but the caprices and evil of personal interest of the Judges—this is the kind of Judiciary well educated and trained guys like Terver Atsar and co are up in harms to defend…you guys will fail in our New Nigeria in this effort no matter how much you try. Trying to defend Justice Katsina-Alu’s misconduct is like dressing up a pig in an immaculate white. Saying that Justice Salami’s accusation against Justice Katsina-Alu cannot be substantiated is like saying that accusing former Governors Ibori of Delta state and Peter Odili of Rivers of corruption cannot be substantiated.
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Coming back to Mr. Terver’s article, he is trying to paint Justice Ayo Salami as the corrupt Judge and want to ensure that he made the man look like a liar in the eye of the Nigerian people, but the truth is that he has succeeded in solidifying the resolve of the Nigerian people to look beyond the smoke screen. The more Justice Katsina-Alu’s propaganda machine, try to justify their subject’s actions and shield him from the scrutiny and the challenge of the Nigerian people the more they expose Justice Katsina-Alu to more questions and challenges.
Justice Salami, was not accused of misconduct by Justice Katsina-Alu, rather it was Justice Salami that accused Justice Katsina-Alu for misconduct. Justice Salami have not recanted his accusation of the Chief Judge nor apologized for accusing the Chief Judge. The Onus lies on Justice Katsina-Alu to come clean and seek redress. I hear some people say that it is wrong for Justice Salami to go public as such has brought the name of the judiciary to ridicule…really? Are the proponents asking for Justice Salami’s head for real? Quickly before I forget the judiciary has very little reputation left and made worst under the leadership of Justice Katsina-Alu.
According to Leadership Newspaper “At the heat of the matter, the NJC had risen from an emergency meeting in Abuja and ordered that the promotion be quashed on the ground that Salami should not be appointed to the Apex court against his will. The NJC was not impressed by the reasons advanced by the CJN for promoting the Court of Appeal President.” Is this true or false Mr Terver?
In recent days, some people are asking if it is not worth investigating Justice Salami for the accusation leveled against him by Senator Omisore, absolutely there is the need. That does not exonerate the CJN from the accusations on Sokoto gubernatorial case. Only those that are beneficiaries of a rigged election will see the sack of Edo, Osun, Ondo and Ekiti PDP governor’s as injustice. In Ekiti State in particular I hope we cannot forget so soon the activities of INEC in the rerun election. Hope we cannot forget so soon the activities of Justice Thomas Noran’s led tribunal in Osun state, who was discussing the states election tribunal case with the plaintiff’s Attorney via telephone and text messages, Justice Noran was never reprimanded nor fired from his position and was still allowed to deliver judgment…Mr. Terver did you ask for this to be substantiated? Is it an unsubstantiated fact that the judge is still in the Judiciary with no punishment as a deterrent even when there was clear evidence and petition against him…Justice Katsina-Alu is still working with him.
Mr. Terver and his proponents are acting as if to say it is only Justice Salami that has accused Justice Katsina-Alu’s of corruption, pretending as if to say Nigerians trust or believe in Justice Katsina-Alu before and after the accusation. Even before Justice Salami accused the Chief Judge of misconduct in Sokoto Gubernatorial case, many Nigerians know about the meddling in the case by Justice Katsina-Alu. The underlying fact, is that the constitution based on which the case of the 2007 election was adjudicated on, the gubernatorial cases end in the Appeal court, how did Sokoto Gubernatorial case end in Justice Katsina-Alu’s Judiciary lap at the Supreme court—Is Justice Katsina-Alu operating on different constitution?
I want Mr. Terver and his proponents to address how that case landed in the lap of Justice Katsina-Alu and not end in the Appeal court as required by the law of the land. It is imperative that Mr. Terver appropriately inform and educate his followers and the public where election matters on gubernatorial election end…the CJN crossed the line intervening in that case…we don’t need Justice Salami’s accusation to know that. What Justice Salami has done is to solidify what Nigerians already know about Justice Katsina-Alu, that he is a compromised judge long before the Sokoto case.
Already, some people say that they don’t expect Justice Katsina-Alu to come public and speak on the accusation leveled against him…this I strongly disagree with…the office of the CJN is the property of the Nigerian people and a public trust, the least Justice Katsina-Alu could do is to explain to the Nigerian people whose trust he is holding, his own side of the story, come clean and seek redress nothing less.
Is Mr. Terver encouraging and advocating for a judiciary that provided a platform that enable Justice Marcel Awokulehin to free Former Governor Ibori of all his criminal activity against the Delta people and the Nigerian people. Is it not a shame Mr. Terver that the UK is prosecuting Mr. Ibori for crime committed against the Nigerian people while the same Nigerian judiciary set him free and the man who performed that abracadabra is still a Judge irrespective of the petition against him.
The obvious truth is this, the powers that be in the judiciary are deeply mad at Justice Salami because a code of silence has been broken even in the face of evil and there is zero tolerance for discontented voice in the deeply corrupt and conservative judiciary. Justice Salami is person no grata in the judiciary, has threatened the modus operandi of shop clean mouth, no talk. Justice Salami, I don’t personally know you, wherever you are, if you are reading this please expose more, because we the Nigerian people cannot afford more of the same any more. It is better for us to have one honest Judge than have multitudes of corrupt irredeemable Judges.
If we the Nigerian people are serious of rebuilding Nigeria for the common good, If want a judiciary that stand for everyone, we cannot let Justice Katsina-Alu sit at the head of the Judiciary and his likes for a second more period! And he need to go now and that applies to any Judge found wanting including Justice Salami if found wanting! With all the evidence available to me I say it once again, I strongly believe in Justice Ayo Salami.
By Owunari Hopkins-Amachree
Footnote: Some bloggers, journalist and supporters of the CJN have accused me of been sponsored to put the petition against the CJN, this is my offer to you all: both proponents and opponents, whether I believe in your cause or not, I will do same for you free of charge (nothing attached), so far as there is evidence that you are not taking money from no one, you take ownership of the content and that you are a Nigerian.
To those who have signed the petition for Justice Katsina-Alu to resign, I sincerely thank you and to those who have not signed, I implore you to sign-up here http://resignaloysiuskastinaalu.com
Thank you.
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