The High Court of the Federal Capital Territory has restrained the immediate past Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Pauline Tallen, from holding public office unless she, within 30 days, apologises publicly for disrespecting the court.
The court, presided over by Justice U.P. Kekemeke ruled that the injunction would become perpetual if Tallen, who served under former President Muhammadu Buhari, refused to apologise within the time given by the court.
The Nigerian Bar Association had in December, 2022 disagreed with Tallen, who was a minister at the time, for describing as “a kangaroo judgment that should be rejected by well-meaning Nigerians” the decision of the Federal High Court in Suit No. FHC/YL/12/2022 in Mallam Nuhu Ribadu vs All Progressives Congress (APC) & 2 Ors delivered on October 14, 2022.
The NBA demanded an apology from the minister, failing which it would approach the court.
A statement by NBA’s National Publicity Secretary, Akorede Habeeb Lawal, on Monday read, “Recall that on the 14th day of December, 2022, the Incorporated Trustees of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) took out an originating summons against Dame Pauline Tallen. The aforesaid statement by the former minister was widely circulated in both social and print media.
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“By a letter dated 14 November, 2022, the NBA President, Mr Yakubu Chonoko Maikyau (SAN) had written to the former Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development demanding her to withdraw the said disparaging comments and tender an unreserved and public apology to the court, failing which the NBA would institute an action against her as being unfit to continue to hold any public office in Nigeria.
“This letter was never responded to and the demands therein were not complied with, hence the institution of Suit No: CV/816/2016 before the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory.
“Earlier today, the 18th day of December, 2023, the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory found in favour of the Incorporated Trustees of the NBA and against the defendant, Dame Pauline Tallen, in Suit No: CV/816/2016. Consequently, the court declared that the said statement of Dame Pauline Tallen (the defendant) was unconstitutional, careless, reckless, disparaging, a call to disobey the judgment of court and therefore contemptuous of the Federal High Court of Nigeria.”
The statement noted that the court also granted among other reliefs “an injunction restraining Dame Pauline Tallen from holding any public office in Nigeria, unless she purges herself of the ignoble conduct by publishing a personally signed apology letter to Nigerians and the judiciary.
“The court ordered that the injunction restraining the defendant from holding any public office in Nigeria shall become perpetual if she fails to abide by the order directing her to publish an apology letter within 30 days.”
The NBA said it remained committed to defending the integrity of the judiciary, while ensuring that those who seek to denigrate the judiciary were brought to book.
It also vowed to call out any judicial officer who fails to abide by the judicial code of conduct, even as it urged judicial officers to take their oath seriously and avoid actions and omissions that would give the appearance of compromise.
The statement quoted the NBA President as thanking the legal team that prosecuted the suit on behalf of the association, including Aikpokpo Martins, Olukunle Edun, Eseagwu Augustine Nwabueze, Anne Agi, Nwabueze Kelvin, and T.J.J Danjuma.
