By Simon Ebegbulem

BENIN—ELDER statesman and Second Republic senator, Senator Francis Okpozo, has urged the Chief Justice of the Nigeria, Justice Aloysius Katsina-Alu, to proceed on retirement to save the judiciary from further ridicule.

He traced the current face-off between the Chief Justice  and President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Ayo Salami, to what he described as the illegal interference of the Chief Justice in the workings of the Appeal Court and subsequently setting up of a panel by the National Judicial Council, NJC, to probe allegations levelled at each other.

He declared that such actions were meant to destroy the nation’s judicial system under his custody.
Okpozo said: “The Chief Judge of the nation supervises the functions of other arms of the judiciary. This does not mean that he should usurp the functions of those organs absolutely.

“As spelt out in the 1999 Constitution and the current Electoral Act, the Court of Appeal plays a very crucial supervisory role on the discharge of electoral functions. Therefore, the interference of the Supreme Court is strictly limited.

“The action of the CJ in stopping a tribunal matter during the hearing of the case on the Sokoto governorship election and asking another court in Abuja to hear it was an attempt to usurp the power of the President of the Court of Appeal.

“If it is not legally wrong he erred morally. And that is the bane of contention in the judiciary today. His actions are ill-motivated. On record, Salami has shown clear conscience in the dispensation of justice especially the sound judgment he has delivered so far on issues concerning Electoral Matters.”
… As UNIBEN alumni decry face-off

More reactions have begun to trail the recent crisis rocking the nation’s judiciary, with the University of Benin Alumni Association calling for quick resolution of the issue, with a view to restoring the confidence of Nigerians in the judiciary.

Rising from its 68th National Executive Coun-cil meeting, weekend, in Asaba, Delta State, the association, in a four-paragraph communique by its President and General Secretary, Dr. Clement Oghene and Dr. Emmanuel Oghre, respectively, described the allegation and counter-allegation as embarrassing.

The communique read: “Council is highly embarrassed by the allegations and counter-allegations of impropriety by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Hon. Justice Aloysius Katsina-Alu and the President , Court of Appeal, Hon. Justice Ayo Salami. Council calls for a quick resolution of this imbroglio for a restoration of the confidence of Nigerians in the judiciary.”

It also condemned the deplorable state of Nige-rian roads, urging both the state and federal governments to expedite actions on their mainte-nance to avoid further carnage.

Describing the state of the roads as tragic, it advised Nigerians to desist from travelling at night except in unavoidable cases.