AYDA CONDEMNS APPEAL COURT PRESIDENT'S ELEVATION

By NBF News

The Arewa Youth Development Association (AYDA) has condemned the move by the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Aloysius Katsina-Alu to elevate the president of the Appeal Court, Justice Ayo Salami to the Supreme Court saying it has an ulterior motive, which portends danger especially with the general elections around the corner.

In an interview with newsmen in Bauchi by its National President, Salisu Magaji, the group warned that there would be far-reaching consequences for the nation's democracy if Katsina-Alu was allowed to use his office to achieve what he described as 'selfish interest' by removing Salami who had been doing well for the Judiciary as president of the Appeal Court.

'Justice Katsina-Alu has to be probed on why he wants Salami to go to the Supreme Court when the general election is just few months away. Certainly there will be a lot of litigations and most of the elections in the states end at the Appeal Court and the country needs honest persons like Salami at the Court of Appeal. Let him come and tell us why he wants to remove Salami. Is it because he knows that some people will rig elections and will fail at the Court of Appeal with Salami there? Katsina-Alu should tell us why.

'We are against what Katsina-Alu is trying to do. The issue is, why is he putting pressure on the Court of Appeal now that election is drawing near? It is a miscarriage of justice in the Sokoto governorship case where Wammakko is still there. Katsina-Alu came and interfered in the judicial judgement of the Appeal Court on the matter.

'He should vacate the court order that the Court of Appeal should stop judgement in the Sokoto case. That case has destroyed the reputation of the Judiciary and it has never happened in the history of Nigeria because the Judiciary is the last hope of the common man,' Magaji said.

According to the AYDA leader, 'Justice Katsina-Alu is trying to destabilise the Judiciary by removing Salami and replacing him with his own stooge because Salami is a principled and hardworking judge who will never be bribed by greedy politicians to bend the rules in their favour.

'Salami was the one who recommended some judges for the Supreme Court and if he is moved to the Supreme Court now what about the ones he recommended? Would they not be his seniors?,' Magaji said further, wondering how the Judiciary would deal with the contradictions that have risen from Salami's proposed promotion to their Supreme Court.

Calling on Nigerians to rise up and protest against what Katsina-Alu is trying to do, the AYDA national president vowed to mobilise supporters across the country to resist the move by Justice Katsina-Alu to move Justice Salami to the Supreme Court from the Court of Appeal, adding that the decision was an unpopular one that should not be allowed to see the light of the day.