April 3, 2008
Saharareporters, New York
The New York-based Nigerian Lawyers Association, an organization that is increasingly notorious for giving awards and creating platforms for controversial Nigerian public officials, has invited the President of the Nigerian Court of Appeal, Justice Umar Abdullahi, to speak today at an event at Columbia University.
Working in conjunction with the Africa Committee of the American Bar Association and the African Law Students Association of the Columbia Law School, the NLA has invited Justice Abdullahi to deliver a talk on “Judicial Independence and the Rule of Law in Nigeria”. The venue is the Jerome L. Greene Hall at the Columbia Law School.
Justice Abdullahi, who is due for retirement this year, oversees a Court of Appeal that is regarded as the most corrupt and compromised branch of the Nigerian judiciary.
The court’s latest shameful judgment came on February 26 2008 when a five-person panel of Court of Appeal upheld the “election” of Umar Yar’adua as president. Several sources have told Saharareporters that Justice Abdullahi helped coordinate the delivery of that bizarre judgment which the tribunal chairman, Justice James Ogebe, could not muster the courage to deliver.
Saharareporters had reported that Justice Abdullahi supervised the writing of the judgment by a group cobbled together for him by Nigeria's Attorney General, Michael Aondoakaa, who is known to consort with many corrupt ex-governors in Nigeria. Aondoakaa was also hosted by the NLA at an award ceremony where the fugitive CEO of CAMAC International, Kase Lawal, was given an award last year.
Our legal sources indicated that Justice Abdullahi and many members of his Court of Appeal are reeling from serious credibility crisis and widespread criticisms that trailed the ruling of the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal. One source told us “as Justice Abdullahi nears retirement, he is looking for avenues to present himself as a respecter of the rule of law whereas he and many of his judges continue to subvert the rule of law and justice in Nigeria through corrupt judgments.”
The publicity statement on Abdullahi’s appearance at the Columbia event stated that the justice’s “discussion will provide insights on the experience of Nigeria's electoral tribunals in protecting the sanctity of the electoral process in the course of adjudicating election petitions related to Nigeria's two most recent general elections.”
Another widely flayed recent judicial indiscretions of the Appeal Court was a ruling that granted Nnamdi Uba, former senior aide to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, a dubious relief on his appeal of an election tribunal’s ruling. Uba, who was fraudulently declared winner of a governorship “election” in Anambra State, was removed on June 14 2007 by an order of the Supreme Court. But when a state electoral tribunal gave a ruling that was in line with the apex court’s verdict, a panel of Appeal Court justices rebuked the tribunal. The justices gave a bizarre ruling on a matter that had already been foreclosed by the Supreme Court.
Worse, it took seven days for the panel at the Appeal Court in Enugu to produce a typed copy of the judgment after Saharareporters had leaked a plan to alter the ruling to give Mr. Uba some legal room to claim that he is “governor-in-waiting.” In the end, the released judgment was described by a top Lagos-based lawyer as “a lot of nothing for Uba and a lot of shame for the justices who wrote it.”
Justice Abdullahi was a secondary school classmate of General Muhammadu Buhari (ret.), a presidential candidate of the ANPP. But one source told Saharareporters that Justice Abdullahi bears a personal grudge against his former classmate. The source said the justice’s negativity towards Buhari as well as a $100 million bribe shared among several Appeal Court justices, including members of the Ogebe panel, led to the subversion of justice in the presidential polls ruling that gave a clean bill to the flawed April 21 2007 election. Local and international observers adjudged it the worst election in Nigeria’s history.
The New York-based Nigerian Lawyers Association, an organization that is increasingly notorious for giving awards and creating platforms for controversial Nigerian public officials, has invited the President of the Nigerian Court of Appeal, Justice Umar Abdullahi, to speak today at an event at Columbia University.
Working in conjunction with the Africa Committee of the American Bar Association and the African Law Students Association of the Columbia Law School, the NLA has invited Justice Abdullahi to deliver a talk on “Judicial Independence and the Rule of Law in Nigeria”. The venue is the Jerome L. Greene Hall at the Columbia Law School.
Justice Abdullahi, who is due for retirement this year, oversees a Court of Appeal that is regarded as the most corrupt and compromised branch of the Nigerian judiciary.
The court’s latest shameful judgment came on February 26 2008 when a five-person panel of Court of Appeal upheld the “election” of Umar Yar’adua as president. Several sources have told Saharareporters that Justice Abdullahi helped coordinate the delivery of that bizarre judgment which the tribunal chairman, Justice James Ogebe, could not muster the courage to deliver.
Saharareporters had reported that Justice Abdullahi supervised the writing of the judgment by a group cobbled together for him by Nigeria's Attorney General, Michael Aondoakaa, who is known to consort with many corrupt ex-governors in Nigeria. Aondoakaa was also hosted by the NLA at an award ceremony where the fugitive CEO of CAMAC International, Kase Lawal, was given an award last year.
Our legal sources indicated that Justice Abdullahi and many members of his Court of Appeal are reeling from serious credibility crisis and widespread criticisms that trailed the ruling of the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal. One source told us “as Justice Abdullahi nears retirement, he is looking for avenues to present himself as a respecter of the rule of law whereas he and many of his judges continue to subvert the rule of law and justice in Nigeria through corrupt judgments.”
The publicity statement on Abdullahi’s appearance at the Columbia event stated that the justice’s “discussion will provide insights on the experience of Nigeria's electoral tribunals in protecting the sanctity of the electoral process in the course of adjudicating election petitions related to Nigeria's two most recent general elections.”
Another widely flayed recent judicial indiscretions of the Appeal Court was a ruling that granted Nnamdi Uba, former senior aide to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, a dubious relief on his appeal of an election tribunal’s ruling. Uba, who was fraudulently declared winner of a governorship “election” in Anambra State, was removed on June 14 2007 by an order of the Supreme Court. But when a state electoral tribunal gave a ruling that was in line with the apex court’s verdict, a panel of Appeal Court justices rebuked the tribunal. The justices gave a bizarre ruling on a matter that had already been foreclosed by the Supreme Court.
Worse, it took seven days for the panel at the Appeal Court in Enugu to produce a typed copy of the judgment after Saharareporters had leaked a plan to alter the ruling to give Mr. Uba some legal room to claim that he is “governor-in-waiting.” In the end, the released judgment was described by a top Lagos-based lawyer as “a lot of nothing for Uba and a lot of shame for the justices who wrote it.”
Justice Abdullahi was a secondary school classmate of General Muhammadu Buhari (ret.), a presidential candidate of the ANPP. But one source told Saharareporters that Justice Abdullahi bears a personal grudge against his former classmate. The source said the justice’s negativity towards Buhari as well as a $100 million bribe shared among several Appeal Court justices, including members of the Ogebe panel, led to the subversion of justice in the presidential polls ruling that gave a clean bill to the flawed April 21 2007 election. Local and international observers adjudged it the worst election in Nigeria’s history.
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('comments'); });
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('content1'); });
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('content2'); });