NJC cancels emergency meeting on Salami •Members now to meet on Jan 25, 26

AN emergency meeting of the National Judicial Council (NJC) fixed for December 21, to consider the recommendation of the 28-man judicial reform stakeholders’ committee that the suspension of Justice Ayo Isa Salami as the President of the Court of Appeal be reviewed, has been summarily cancelled, the Nigerian Tribune has exclusively learnt.
Though his suspension was not discussed by the Justice Lawal Uwais stakeholders’ committee, a recommendation that his suspension should be reconsidered eventually found its way into the committee’s final report which would be officially handed over to the Chief Justice of Nigeria and chairman of the NJC, Justice Dahiru Musdapher today.
A member of the committee and former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Chief O.C.J Okocha, had confirmed to the Nigerian Tribune that Salami’s case was not discussed by the committee.
In an interview conducted during the recent International Bar Conference in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, he also confirmed Nigerian Tribune’s exclusive report that political solution was being employed to resolve the issues surrounding the future of Salami on the bench.
It was learnt that the forced cancellation of the emergency meeting, which was reportedly called by Musdapher to solely consider the committee’s recommendation on Salami, was due to the strong objection by the majority of the members of the council.
Nigerian Tribune was reliably told that moments after members of the council received the notice of meeting for the emergency parley, there was a cacophony of objections, which reportedly made the CJN to hurriedly cancel the planned meeting.
A member of the council told the Nigerian Tribune that some senior members of the council reportedly went to the CJN to make their objection known to him in strong terms immediately they received their copies of notice of the meeting.
The council, under the leadership of Musdapher’s immediate predecessor-in-office, Justice Aloysius Katsina-Alu, had at its 7th emergency meeting of August 18, 2011 suspended Salami for misconduct  over his refusal to apologise to the council and its chairman for dragging their names through the mud.

Nigerian Tribune