Ex-minister appeals court judgement barring her from holding public office

Ex-minister appeals court judgement barring her from holding public office

Former Minister of Women Affairs under the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, Mrs Pauline Tallen, has appealed the judgment of an FCT high court which barred her from holding public office.

Justice Peter Kekemeke of the FCT High Court on December 18 barred Tallen in a case filed against her by the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) over her alleged “disparaging” comment against an earlier court judgement.

The judge however gave Tallen an option of publishing a personally signed apology letter to the NBA, the judiciary and Nigerians in one full page each of two national dailies, the Guardian and the Punch, within 30 days from the date of its judgement, failing which the order becomes perpetual.

Tallen prayed the Court of Appeal to set aside the said judgment, arguing that the ruling was tantamount to a miscarriage of justice.

In a Notice of Appeal filed on Jan. 2, 2024, and cited by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Tallen, through her lawyer, JK Gadzama SAN, presented 13 grounds of appeal against the trial court’s decision.

The former Deputy Governor of Plateau and one-time Minister of State, Science and Technology, also prayed the appellate court to, among other reliefs, dismiss the suit and set aside the decision of the court.

She stressed that the trial court erred in law, arguing that its decision against her preliminary objection on the competence of the respondent’s affidavit, locus standi, propriety of the suit, in spite of the credible evidence submitted, was a miscarriage of justice.

It would be recalled that while delivering judgement on the case, the FCT High Court had described Tallen’s alleged comments against the judiciary concerning a decision of the Federal High Court in Adamawa State as “unconstitutional, careless, reckless, disparaging.”