Following the contradictory ruling of the Federal High Courts in Port Harcourt and Abuja, the embattled National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Senator Ali Modu-Sheriff, on Tuesday demanded the removal of Justice Mohammed Liman and Ibrahim Watila.
Specifically, Sheriff called on the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Mahmoud Mohammed, to probe the Port Harcourt court, stressing that otherwise it would bring anarchy upon Nigeria.
The Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt had on Monday validated the August 17th , 2016 National Convention of the PDP, scheduled to hold in Port Harcourt and directed the Independent National Electoral Commission to monitor the event.
The Court also directed the Inspector-General of Police, the Rivers State Commissioner of Police and the Director-General of the Department of State Services to provide security for the PDP national convention holding on Wednesday.
Indeed, Justice Ibrahim Watila declared that the July 4, 2016 judgment of the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt recognised the May 21, 2016 National Convention, which produced the National Caretaker Committee, had not been appealed against or set aside.
Watila said that it was, therefore, the responsibility of the court to protect that judgment.
But speaking at a press conference on Tuesday in Abuja, Sheriff said, “Unless the few bad ones (judges) are removed, Nigeria will have problem. Justice is for everybody, it is wrong where judges are compromised.
“We are calling on the chief justice of the nation to look into Port Harcourt Division of this judiciary. Otherwise, they will bring anarchy into this country.
“The irony of it is that Liman is the most senior administrative judge there. So, what he did before is asking another judge to repeat the same because he is the senior judge.
“Urgent attention needs to be taken by the chief Justice of the federation, chief judge of the Federal High Court and the Judicial Service Commission. Unless those kind of people are removed completely, Nigeria will have problem.
“But we are going to put a formal complaint to the Judicial Service Commission. We are saying this because it is wrong; justice is for everybody”.
Sheriff, however, vowed not to accept the outcome of the Wednesday convention, declaring it illegal.
“But the truth about it is that whatever they do is illegal, unacceptable and we will continue. I will not recognise any of these gatherings. I will pursue the Rule of Law until justice is done. This party is for Nigerians. I am ready today, tomorrow if justice will be done, if elections are conducted in Abuja; people are allowed to choose who they want as leaders, I’ll be prepared to hand over to that person,” he said.
Sheriff further maintained, “We are shocked with that Port Harcourt ruling. All the judges in Nigeria are on annual vacation. This morning, when our lawyers went to Port Harcourt court, the judge authorised all the registry staff to run away. It took our lawyer, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, to call everybody in Nigeria that this judiciary should not be destroyed.
“Our judges in the Supreme Court are first class; our judges at Court of Appeal are second to none. All the problem of Nigeria are few judges in the Federal High Courts.”
