FORMER Governor of Ekiti State, Chief Segun Oni has requested the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Mr. Mohammed Adoke (SAN) to commence criminal prosecution of the suspended President of the Court of Appeal (PCA), Justice Isa Ayo Salami for the offence of Perjury.
Oni, who was one of the key figures that exposed the alleged underhand dealings by the suspended Justice Salami on the Ekiti and Osun Elections Appeal cases gave the AGF 72 hours ultimatum to commence the trial.
Media Aide to the former governor, Mr. Lere Olayinka, who made this known in a statement issued in Ado-Ekiti today said; in a letter to the Attorney General dated January 19, 2012, Oni stated that “following the conclusion of the Justice Umaru Abdullahi Panel, which found that Justice Salami lied on oath, the AGF should exercise his constitutional duty to commence prosecution of the suspended PCA
forthwith.”
Section (117) of the Criminal Code Act states that; “Any person who, in any judicial proceeding, or for the purpose of instituting any judicial proceeding, knowingly gives false testimony touching any matter which is material to any question then depending in that proceeding, or intended to be raised in that proceeding, is guilty of an offence, which is called perjury. Section (118) prescribes fourteen years imprisonment as punishment for perjury.
Oni’s letter stated inter alia; ”Hon minister will kindly recall that the Justice Umaru Abdullahi panel investigated the allegations by Justice Ayo Salami contained in his affidavit sworn to before the
court to the effect that the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) then (Justice Aloysius Katsina-Alu) invited him to a meeting and asked him to interfere in the Tribunal in respect of the Governorship case of
Sokoto State then before the Court of Appeal Panel.
“This is contained among others in Para graph4( v) of the sworn affidavit which stated ‘the Honourable Chief Justice of Nigeria actually instructed me to direct the panel of justices hearing the Sokoto state gubernatorial Appeal Panel to dismiss the Appeal which I told him I could not do.’
“Based on evidence before the panel by the former CJN and Hon Justice Dahiru Mustapha, the current Chief Justice of Nigeria, who was present during the said meeting between the then CJN and the Suspended PCA, the panel found that the allegations of interference by the CJN was
not true ,contrary to the sworn affidavit deposed to by the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Ayo Salami on 31/3/11.
“The Panel stated on page 96 ‘From all the circumstances there is available evidence that the CJN did not give instructions to the PCA to direct the panel to dismiss the appeal’’…. ‘’ the Panel finds that
the allegation that the CJN had taken over the running of the Court of Appeal in an unprecedented manner as unfounded.’
“It is trite therefore that having lied on oath, a crime of perjury has been committed by Justice Salami, one of the persons who sits at the top echelon of the bench, a situation which has no doubt put the
judiciary in public odium. “It is the duty of the Attorney General to initiate prosecution of
anyone who has committed a criminal offence in our country or give a fiat for such prosecution, and it is a well known legal maxim that all persons are equal before the law.
“It is in pursuing our patriotic duty to the nation that I wish to request the Hon Attorney General to initiate the prosecution of Justice Salami for the offence of Perjury within a reasonable time
not later than 72 hours of the receipt of this petition or course a fiat to be given to our lawyers for this prosecution.”
It would be recalled that sometimes in October, 2011 a similar letter was written to the AGF by lawyers of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ekiti and Osun states, but the letter has not been acted upon. This notwithstanding, moves are allegedly being made to return Salami to his position based on pressures allegedly being mounted on the Presidency and the CJN, Justice Dahiru Musdapher by some opposition party chieftains working in concert with some leading figures in the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in what has been termed ”political solution.”