PDP washes its hands of Salami’s removal

L-R: Justice Ayo Salami, Aloysius Katsina-Alu

The Peoples Democratic Party has said it has no hand in the removal of erstwhile President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Ayo Salami.

The party also called on Nigerians and opposition political parties to allow the judiciary determine Salami’s fate.

It accused the Action Congress of Nigeria of crying more than the bereaved, saying the way the ACN reacted to Salami’s suspension was suspicious.

Speaking with journalists in Abuja on Tuesday, the National Legal Adviser of the PDP, Chief Olusola Oke dismissed rumours that his party manipulated Salami’s removal, saying it is a “cheap blackmail which cannot be substantiated.”

He said there was no time the national body accused Salami of any wrongdoing, adding that it was the South-West zone of the party that had consistently accused him of not being fair to the PDP in the handling of its cases at the election petition tribunals, especially in Ekiti and Osun states.

Oke said, “Some measure of allegations of partiality has been raised by the South-West zone of the party against Justice Salami, but we in the national secretariat have not done so. Why is the ACN weeping more than the bereaved?”

He said the ACN’s reaction to Salami’s suspension was suggestive of special interest that “smacks much like political undertone.”

Oke added, “Emotion being displayed by the ACN over this matter, gives the impression that there is something that meets the ordinary eye. The matter is already in court and this is an internal affair of the judiciary but the hue and cry and emotions from the ACN is worrisome.

“The matter should be allowed to be settled through the judicial due process, but the ACN is weeping more than the bereaved in this case.”

Also responding to the suspension, a pro-democracy group, the Coalition of Democrats for Electoral Reform, described the actions of the National Judicial Council, which recommended Salami’s suspension as a mockery of the internationally accepted method of jurisprudence, which it said, holds sacred the study of law and the principles on which the law is based.

In a statement by its Director of Research, Planning and Strategy, M. Segun Bada, CODER said Salami ought to be given a chance to clear himself.

The statement reads, “The NJC explanation for the suspension of Justice Ayo Salami is Ultra-Vires. As a matter of fact, it is a general adage that ‘you don’t shave someone’s head without his physical presence.’

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