Salami Presidency uncovers plot to politicise judiciary

THE presidency is said to have uncovered plots by some forces to destroy the nation's judiciary, through what it described as 'undue politicisation of issues affecting the arm of government.'One of the issues already identified by sources was the planned reinstatement of the suspended president of the Court of Appeal, Justice Isa Ayo Salami, whose fate had continued to hang in the balance, in view of the position of the Federal Government to hold his case as subjudice.Sources confirmed certain fears within the government of plots to politicise the judiciary, adding that the development could warrant a stakeholders' summit on the way forward in a short while.A source said the conduct of the judiciary in the handling of Salami's issue had exposed the serious political undertones with which certain decisions were taken, even within the arm of government.'This government strongly believes in the rule of law and it will continue to abide by the rule of law, even in the case of Justice Salami or any other judge for that matter. 'That is why the presidency has insisted that it will not overreach the courts, since there are pending issues before the courts on that matter. But the conduct of certain persons in recent times is raising lots of questions,' a source said.According to the source, the president was first communicated by the National Judicial Council (NJC), asking him to retire Justice Salami over alleged perjury and misconduct, adding, however, that several months after, the same NJC wrote another letter, asking that Salami be returned to office without stating what happened to the criminal allegation of perjury against him.The source stated further that the government was worried that the leadership of the judiciary appeared to be falling for one side of the argument, which is clearly in contravention of the constitution.
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