The Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), has written a petition to the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Mahmud Mohammed, against a Federal High Court Judge- Justice Muhammed Nasir Yunasa. The petition seeks for disciplinary action to be taken against the erring judge by the CJN, who is the chairman of the National Judicial Council (NJC).
A similar petition by the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) in the Office of the AGF was also sent to the Inspector- General of Police to investigate the criminal aspect of the allegation. In the petition, Justice Yunusa was alleged to have issued two conflicting and contradictory orders on July 4, 2014 in a suit No. FHC/L/CS/ 1042/2013.
The petition further alleged that Justice Yunusa, had in a ruling dismissed the notice of preliminary objection and held that the court has no jurisdiction to hear and determine the suit but in a subsequent order made on the same day, the same judge gave a conflicting order.
It was alleged that the erring judge breached Rule 1 paragraph of the Code of Conduct of Judicial Officers and also that his conduct has infringed Sections 464 and 465 of the Criminal Code of Lagos State. Apart from the petitions from the AGF, it was gathered that there has been consistent telephone conversations between the embattled judge and a senior lawyer, Rickey Tarfa SAN.
New Telegraph recalls that Tarfa is being tried by the EFCC for obstruction of justice, when he allegedly shielded anti-corruption police from arresting one of his client, Granhoue Sourou Nazaire. Nazaire had been Tarfa’s client since around May 2015, when he instituted the legal suit against one Mrs. Rachidatou Abdou over ownership and control of a company of which they were both the directors.
Abdou on September 7th, 2015 petitioned the Commissioner of Police, saying that she believed that Tarfa was colluding with the trial Judge-Justice Mohammed Yunusa. Part of Mrs. Abdou’s petition reads “before and after the filing of the suit, the Applicant’s lawyer, Ricky Tarfa, SAN, and the judge, the Honourable Justice Yunusa were communicating with other on the phone in order to pervert the course of justice.”
In response to her complaint, the CJN sent a memo to Justice Yunusa over his alleged misconduct. The memo was sent through the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court of Nigeria, demanding an explanation to Mrs. Abdou’s allegations against him. The judge has been given two weeks to respond to the allegations.
