Justice Salami Wins Reinstatement Suit

A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, on Monday, struck out a suit seeking to stop President Goodluck Jonathan from acting on a resolution of the National Judicial Council (NJC) reinstating the suspended president of the Court of Appeal, Justice Isa Ayo Salami.

“The council is meeting tomorrow and Thursday and the recent judicial victories of the embattled top jurist are likely to be a major highlight,” a source said.
The controversy surrounding the nomination of a new chief judge for Osun State may also form the the agenda.

The report of the council’s Performance and Evaluation Committee on judges was also reportedly listed for consideration.
Apart from the victory of Monday, Salami had, on May 30, secured another legal victory in his quest to regain his seat, when Justice Abdul Kafarati dismissed a suit brought by a lawyer, Noah Ajare, seeking to restrain Jonathan and the NJC from taking action on the Salami matter.
The council reinstated Salami on May 11, while the suit, which was struck out on Monday, was filed on May 18 though the plaintiff, Wilfred Okoli, who dramatically returned to the court on June 22 with a notice of discontinuance.

The controversy generated by the move to end the suit between Okoli and his counsel, Amobi Nzelu, led to Justice Kafarati asking the duo to go and sort out their differences and return on Monday.
During the proceedings on Monday, Okoli insisted that the suit was filed without his knowledge and asked the court to countenance his notice of discountenance, though Nzelu objected to his submission.
In a short ruling, Justice Kafarati held that since the plaintiff in the matter had filed a notice of discontinuance, the court was left with no option but to strike out the suit.

Lead counsel for Salami, Chief Akinlolu Olujinmi, called for sanction for Nzelu by the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee for unethical act, which bordered on instituting a suit without the instructions of the supposed plaintiff.
Meanwhile, Salami’s suit challenging his suspension is still pending at both the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal, in Abuja.

A source said the council might not be able to take any definite action on Salami’s reinstatement during the two-day meeting, due to the pendency of the two cases supporting his cause.
The nomination of Justice Olubunmi Oyewole of the Lagos judiciary as the next chief judge of Osun State is also being challenged at a Federal High Court, Abuja, with a source within the council disclosing that there were indications that the council had been served.