Date Published: 08/25/11

Pressure mounts on President Jonathan not tot extend Katsina-Alu's tenure
…Musdapher lobbies to take over

President Goodluck Jonathan

Justice Aloysius Katsina-Alu

There appears to be intense pressure on President Goodluck Jonathan  not to extend the tenure of the Chief Justice of the Federation, CJN, Aloysius Katsina-Alu, who is billed to retire in a few days.

There are also pressures   to have him removed before the conferment ceremony for new Senior Advocates of Nigeria ( SAN). Irked by the role played by the National Judicial Council ( NJC ), and the CJN, in the sacking of former President, court of Appeal, Justice Ayo Salami, the NBA vowed to boycott the ceremony. This school contend the move may placate the NBA pending the outcome of the Salami lawsuit.

The Attorney General, Bello Adoke has also been fingered as one of the negative forces behind the controversial move to sack Salami, and one of the characters lobbying Jonathan to allow Katsina -Alu stay on behind his controversial retirement date which appeared to have been doctored.

Pointblanknews.com learnt that the move by Adoke and Katsina-Alu to push for an extension has infuriated second in command, Justice Dahiru Musdapher who stuck out his neck for the CJN. Musdapher had lied to protect the CJN when he said Katsina-Alu did not say the Sokoto Governorship election petition verdict should be arrested. This led to the charge of perjury against Salami.

 According to highly placed sources, some associates of Jonathan are accusing his advisers for leading him into very controversial moves. First was the brouhaha generated by the single tenure proposal, and now the sacking of former President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Ayo Salami.

They contend that the allegation by Salami that Katsina Alu wanted the appeal court verdict on the Sokoto Governorship election reversed has dented his credibility. Adding that, for the simple reason that Justice Dahiru Musdapher sided with the CJN did not mean Salami lied about the Sokoto saga. Musdapher is next in line to be CJN.

There is also the controversy surrounding katsina-Alu's age. While it is officially noted at the apex court that he would bow out on August 28, 2011, documents in circulation show that he would be 70 years, the mandatory retirement age, on May 28, 2011.

The Supreme Court of Nigeria’s Staff Nominal Roll stated that Katsina-Alu was born on May 28, 1941, while the ‘Current List of Council Members and Their Expiration Date’ showed that Katsina-Alu would be due for retirement on August 28, 2011.

It is believed he was made to hold forth until after the Presidential election.

Even though the Presidency has said it approved the appointment of a new Court of Appeal top shot, because it did not want a lacuna, the massive protests continue to undermine the intentions of Jonathan.

Already the Action Congress of Nigeria and Congress for Progressive Change have taken shots at the Peoples Democratic Party and Jonathan for trying to undermine the integrity of the judiciary. The CPC allege that Salami" s sack was to preempt whatever decision the Court of Appeal could reach on the Presidential Election petition by Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, while the ACN contend that it was payback for  the strings of Governorship elections victories by PDP reversed by Salami.

Sequel to the face-off between Katsina-Alu , National Judicial Council on one hand and  Salami, on the other, Jonathan fired the latter

Pointblanknews.com sources hinted that the president is under intense pressure to sack the CJN who is believed not to be credible with allegation of fraud hanging over his head.

Salami had accused Katsina-Alu of trying to remove him from office, because the latter asked him to compromise the Court of Appeal's verdict on the protracted Sokoto State governorship legal tussle by either disbanding the original panel, which he (  Katsina-Alu) believed was about to give a verdict adverse to the governor's interest or direct the panel to give judgment in the governor's favor.

Salami had also dragged the Chief Justice of Nigeria before a Federal High Court, Abuja over his unsolicited elevation to the bench of the Supreme Court.

It would be recalled that the NJC had suspended with immediate effect the transfer of Salami to the Supreme Court. The NJC took the decision during an emergency meeting, stating that the reason for the suspension was because of the controversies generated by the transfer which was initiated by the CJN.

According to our source " the president is under intense pressure to show Katsina - Alu the gate. The man has a lot of baggage; don't forget the whole drama started with the allegations concerning the Sokoto State Governorship election. That issue has been swept away. The President was ill advised. What he would have done was to allow the issue to pay itself out. "

"As the President he should have called on the parties to a meeting instead of allow the NJC and CJN to railroad the PCA. This is making the administration less popular, don't forget we still have the single tenure controversy. It is big distraction and not good for the administration "

Meanwhile, sources in the Supreme Court indicate that the CJN is banking on getting an extension of tenure from President Jonathan. It is gathered that the Attorney General of the Federation. Bello Adoke, SAN has assured Katsina-Alu that tenure extension is possible. How this could be done is still difficult to fathom.

The CJN has brought forward the date of swearing in of the newly appointed Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN) from the originally scheduled 19th September to August 26th 2011. It is understood that CJN is scared that if he fails to secure a tenure extension and leaves office by August 28th, chances are that some of the proposed SANs like Yahaya Mahmood who was used to in the Sokoto case against Justice Salami will not be sworn in September. The Nigerian Bar Association in its recent report on the face off between CJN and PCA had indicted Yahaya Mahmood and recommended that he face disciplinary action for professional misconduct.

Sources in the Supreme Court also indicate that Katsina-Alu is not keen in recommending his no 2, Justice Dahiru Musdapher, as his successor should the tenure elongation bid fail.

It was gathered that the relationship between two justices has become frosty because of the former’s tenure elongation bid. Dahiru Musdapher it should be recalled stuck out his neck for the CJN by lying before NJC panel led by Umaru Abdullahi that Katsina-Alu did not direct Justice Salami to pervert cause of justice in the Sokoto case.