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The Action Congress
of Nigeria (ACN) has asked the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF)
and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke, to file criminal charges
against a senator, Iyiola Omisore, over his recent comments on the
president of the Court of Appeal and other members of the court.

The national
publicity secretary of the party, Lai Mohammed, said recent
advertisements paid for by Mr. Omisore and published in some national
dailies regarding a Court of Appeal’s ruling on the appeal for the 2007
gubernatorial election in Osun State that favoured the ACN candidate,
were contemptuous of the legal institution.

Mr. Adoke should
“stand up and protect the integrity of the nation’s judiciary by
immediately filing a criminal contempt charge against Iyiola Omisore
over his recent attacks against the president of the Court of Appeal
and other members of the court,” Mr. Mohammed said.

He also quoted some part of the advertorial which he said did not show sufficient respect for the judiciary.

“It is now
abundantly clear that Ayo Salami’s Court of Appeal has a special squad
that he deploys to prosecute Action Congress of Nigeria’s (read Bola
Ahmed Tinubu’s) agenda,” the advertorial said in part.

“While I pray that
God judges these knavish judges without mercy or compassion for
delivering a manifestly fraudulent judgement, let it be known that the
last has not been heard as far as the matter of the Osun Governorship
Appeal is concerned.”

Contempt of court

The ACN claimed
that Omisore’s “irresponsible frontal, crude, and unsubstantiated
attacks on the Court of Appeal and its members” constitutes contempt of
the court.

“If it (contempt of
court) had been committed in the course of the proceeding, it would
have amounted to contempt in the face of the court, in which case the
Judge would have put him in the dock immediately and summarily imposed
sanctions until he has purged himself of the contempt,” Mr. Mohammed
said.

It, however, noted
that “it is the duty of the AGF to file an action against Iyiola
Omisore because it is the constitutional duty of the AGF in such
situations to protect the integrity of the court and our judicial
system by filing an action which enables the court to exercise its
disciplinary jurisdiction.”

The Minister of
Justice was reminded that failure to act in defence of the integrity of
the judiciary would mean that he has failed in his primary
responsibility to the nation’s system of justice.