Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum (SMBLF), on Tuesday, Bolna’an Dongban-Mensen, as the substantive president of the Court of Appeal without going through another acting term.
SMBLF made the call in a statement titled: “Confirm NJC nominee as Appeal Court president now- SMBLF tells Buhari,” and jointly signed by Mr Yinka Odumakin for South- West, Chief Guy Ikokwu (South-East), Senator Bassey Henshaw (South-South) and Dr Isuwa Dogo (Middle- Belt), saying it was not interfering in the country’s Judiciary matter but was “only calling out the president to do the right thing so as to dispel the fears that ethnic and religious factors now play roles in Judicial appointments.”
The group, while making the call, said it was constrained to do so, having read the open letter to Buhari by the former military governor of Kaduna State, Col Abubakar Umar, on the issue, warning that: “In this particular instance, it would manifest that the government is out to achieve some unfortunate goal if any attempt is made to jump to the next line.”
“And it is for this reason that we are appealing to the Justice who is next in line to know that becoming Appeal Court president under this circumstance would be infra dig as it would be seen as a reward for being on the panel that ruled in favour of President Buhari in the last election petition,” SMBLF said.
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According to the leaders, the path of honour being recommend is for the judges behind Dongban-Mensen in rank to follow one “toed by judges of honour in Kogi State recently when the Nos 2 and 3 refused to accept being made no 1 in controversial circumstance,” adding: “The Chief Judge served out his tenure.”
SMBLF, therefore, called on President Buhari to save the government the possibility of such situation by confirming the NJC recommendation immediately, even as it condemned what it described as “shameful manipulation” of appointment figures in Nigeria by a northern-based newspaper to make a feeble rebuttal of Col Umar’s memo to Buhari, declaring such as “most unhelpful to the reputation of journalism.”
“President Buhari should save the government the possibility of such a situation by confirming the NJC recommendation immediately.
“Lastly, we use this medium to reject the shameful manipulation of appointment figures by a northern newspaper to make a feeble rebuttal of Col. Abubakar Umar’s patriotic memo. It was most unhelpful to the reputation of journalism,” the leaders said.
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