The
suspended President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Isa Ayo Salami, on
Thursday asked a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja to stay proceedings
in the suit in which he is contesting his suspension by the National
Judicial Council and refer some questions arising from the matter to the
Court of Appeal.
At the resumption of hearing in the matter, Salami’s
counsel and former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of
Justice, Akin Olujimi, SAN, informed the court, headed by Justice
Donatus Okorowo, about a fresh application filed by his client.
Olujimi asked the court to refer some questions arising from the suit to the Court of Appeal for decision.
The application followed a preliminary objection by
the NJC, in which it challenged the jurisdiction of the court to hear
the suit.
In the preliminary objection, Counsel to the NJC,
Chief Mike Ozekhome, SAN, argued that, rather than the Federal High
Court, it is the National Industrial Court that has the jurisdiction to
entertain the matter.
Ozekhome maintained that the subject matter of the
suit related to “or is connected with labour, employment, trade unions,
industrial relations and matters arising from the workplace, the
conditions of service including health, safety and welfare of labour
employees, workers and matters incidental thereto or connected
therewith, over which only the National Industrial Court has exclusive
jurisdiction by virtue of Section 254 c(1) of the constitution.”
“The claims of the plaintiff are caught by the
exclusivity of the jurisdiction of the National Industrial Court
conferred by Section 254 c(1)(a), (j), (vii) and ii of the constitution
as amended,” he argued.
In response to the NJC’s objection, Salami, through
his counsel, Olujimi, asked the court to refer the matter to the Court
of Appeal for determination.
Olujimi noted that the questions in reference had to
do with the “interpretation and/or application of various sections which
are novel and there are no precedents of the higher courts on them.”
No comments:
Post a Comment