A former President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Ayo Salami (retd.), on Thursday broke his silence on his appointment as the Chairman of the Anti-Corruption Cases Trial Monitoring Committee set up by the National Judicial Council.
Salami divulged his reason for rejecting the appointment in an interview with The PUNCH on Thursday.
A national newspaper had earlier reported on Thursday that Salami rejected the appointment because of some persons included as members of the committee.
But Salami confirmed to our correspondent in a telephone interview that he rejected the appointment because it was not in his interest.
Insisting that contrary to the statement issued by the Office of the Chief Justice of Nigeria on Thursday that it had yet to be formally notified of Salami’s decision to reject the appointment, the former President of the Court of Appeal told our correspondent that he had sent a formal letter to the appropriate authorities to that effect.
Making a veiled reference to the former President Goodluck Jonathan administration’s refusal to reinstate him as the President of the Court of Appeal despite NJC’s recommendation that he should be returned to office, Salami told our correspondent that the NJC and the courts abandoned him during his trying time.
The following conversation ensued between him and our correspondent: