Former Federation Attorney General and Justice Minister Mohammed Adoke said former President Goodluck Jonathan was not directly engaged in removing Ayo Salami, a former Court of Appeal president.
He said Mr Jonathan “did not have any interest in hounding Mr Salami”.
Mr Adoke, who served from 2010 to 2015 under Mr Jonathan, said this in his book, ‘Burden of Service –Reminiscences of Nigeria’s Former Attorney-General’.
He said he was the one who gave Mr Jonathan advice “to act no further as the matter is sub-judice since it had already reached the court.”
Mr Salami was suspended following his supposed press disclosure of an effort by Nigeria’s then Chief Justice, Aloysius Katsina-Alu, to influence the election of the Sokoto governorship pending before the tribunal at the moment.
The former was found guilty on the recommendation of Justice Ibrahim Auta, a panel which investigated petitions against Messrs Salami and Katsina-Alu, respectively.
Mr Salami was charged with lying on oath against the then CJN and requested to apologize within seven days to Mr Katsina-Alu.
The NJC obtained the recommendation of the panel on August 9, 2011.
While the matter was pending in court, on August 18, the NJC held an emergency session with the majority of its key members absent and Mr. Salami was suspended.
He was superseded instantly by an acting president of the court of appeal, Dalhatu Adamu.
Mr Adoke said that after Mr Salami was declared guilty of misconduct by the formed NJC committee, Mr Jonathan accepted the suggestions and was concerned with transferring them to the 7th Senate chambers for the requisite confirmation of a two-thirds majority.
At the time, he said that Mr. Salami had approached the Federal High Court to challenge the recommendations of the panel.
”At that juncture, I advised the president that he could act no further on the matter pending the outcome of the court case.
”I make bold to state categorically that the allegation that President Jonathan hounded Salami out of office was not true. The President was not interested in hounding anybody. Quite the reverse. He (Mr Jonathan) was very sad.
”Even the Northern bigwigs in the profession, both retired and serving, such as Justice Mohammed Uwais, Justice Umaru Abdullahi, Alhaji Abdullahi Ibrahim, Justice Mamman Nasiru and Justice Mustapha Akanbi, all attempted to broker peace with no success,” the senior lawyer said.
Mr Adoke said prior to Mr Salami’s suspension, “Mr Jonathan had to act under Section 235(4) of the1999 Constitution that permits the president to appoint the most senior Justice of the Court of Appeal if the office is vacant.”
The constitution states: ”If the office of the President of the Court of Appeal is vacant or not able to perform his duties for any reason until the person holding the office has resumed those functions, the President shall appoint the most senior Justice of the Court of Appeal to perform those functions.”
Mr. Adoke blamed the political motives for the outcome of the matter.
”That was what the president did (Mr Jonathan). Justice Salami was unable to return to his seat because he was on suspension awaiting retirement or the outcome of the suit he instituted. It was a fairly straightforward case.
”But because political motives were read into it, many were not convinced that the due process was followed,” he said.
In his book, the former AGF also unveiled the reasons for the failure of the then CJN, Dahiru Musdapher, to reinstate Mr Salami as President of the Court of Appeal.
He said former President Jonathan had already acted on the recommendation and was awaiting the determination of the court case.
”When Justice Dahiru Musdapher became the CJN, he, along with some members of the NJC, tried to see if Samlami could be recalled. He did write to the president on it. Regrettably, that line of action did not succeed. Not only did the NJC suspended Justice Salami, but the body also recommended his retirement.
”The President had already acted on the recommendation and was awaiting the determination of the court case instituted by Justice Salami so that the process could be completed. Mr Adoke wrote on page 187 of his book.”
Mr Adoke explained that Mr Jonathan would have accepted to the request of the NJC at that time “only if Mr Salami was only suspended without the recommendation to compulsory retire him by the panel.”
”The NJC, having recommended his retirement, had become irrelevant in the matter and could no longer act on it or take back its prescription,” Mr Adoke said.
”Had it been that it was a mere suspension without the recommendation to compulsorily retire him, the president could have assented to the request of the NJC.
”The NJC was advised to wait for the outcome of the court case – but this never saw the light of the day owing to the lack of diligent prosecution on the part of Justice Salami’s lawyer,” he added.