Soyinka reacts to Salami's removal

Nobel Laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka, has described the suspension and removal of the President, Court of Appeal, Justice Ayo Salami, as illegal, unconstitutional, misguided and improper.

Soyinka said this in Port Harcourt on Monday few minutes after the members of the Nigerian Bar Association booed the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Adoke, for his unsatisfactory explanation on the removal of Salami by President Goodluck Jonathan.

Soyinka and Adoke spoke on Monday at the National Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association holding in Port Harcourt.

In a keynote address, entitled, ‘Sustaining an enduring democracy in Nigeria’, Soyinka berated the NJC for taking decisions that were “improper, illegal, self-destructive, ill-advised, counter-productive, irresponsible and unconstitutional.”

The effort of the Adoke to justify Jonathan’s decision to appoint an acting President for the Court Appeal, was booed by lawyers.

Adoke, who represented Jonathan at the conference, held at the Alfred Diette-Spiff Civic Centre, said the crisis in the bar was capable of derailing the judicial system hence the President had no option but to act fast by appointing the acting President of the court.

“The unity in the bar is fast eroded. We do all we could to sustain our nascent democracy. The reforms undertaken in the judicial system by the FG was key to the present administration,” he said.

Adoke was booed by the audience over what many lawyers regarded as a “shameful” explanation trying to justify an anti-people’s decision which attracted their contempt.

Meanwhile, NBA President, Joseph Daudu, proposed to the members of the Bar that they should begin a boycott of the courts until further notice.

The boycott is to protest the decision of the NJC on Salami and the approval of their recommendation by Jonathan.

Daudu said the NBA would boycott the courts to show its total objection to the controversial decision by the NJC, a council which many believed was acting out the script prepared for it by the embattled Chief Justice of the Federation, Justice Aloysius Katsina-Alu.

In his remarks, the Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, described the NBA as an institution for the rich and not for the poor Nigerians who could not afford the huge amount of money for justice.

Soyinka faulted the fears expressed by some Nigerians over the proposed Islamic banking as being championed by the Central Bank of Nigeria.

He explained that it was not the Islamic banking system that was responsible for the breakdown of social infrastructure such as education, health, power supply among others.

He said, “Any Nigerian has the right to apply for any system of banking as much as such process conforms with the laid down laws of the nation. How has the non interest banking contravened the law of the land.

“Non-interest banking which also exists in other countries like the United Kingdom, the United States among others, was not responsible for the global financial melt down, the militancy crisis in the Niger Delta region and the Boko Haram in some states of northern Nigeria.

“We need to come together and engage the protocol of national conference and dialogue as the surest way of moving the country forward.”

In his welcome address, the Chairman of the NBA, Port Harcourt Branch, Mr. Worgu Boms, assured the lawyers that the conference, last held in Port Harcourt in 2006, would be both exciting and professionally rewarding.

He said over 2,000 lawyers practise in Rivers State and were organised into Port Harcourt, Ahoada and Isiokpo branches.

Boms said, “Many of our notable lawyers and nearly every SAN with a national fame, although with practice base outside Port Harcourt, have more net-worth clientele from and in Port Harcourt, than in their domicile of practice.

“Port Harcourt is playing host to the NBA’s conference, less than a decade after it hosted the same conference in 2006. I am not aware that any city has twice hosted this August gathering within a decade.

“Port Harcourt is a destination of choice for business, conferences and even for leisure. Port Harcourt is the most peaceful place in Nigeria.”

Also, protesters under the aegis of Campaign Against Corruption in the Judiciary;Lawyers of Conscience, Social Action and Civil Society Coalition, beseiged the conference to lend their voice to the rift in the bench.