Former minister, Tallen appeals judgment barring her from holding public office

A former Minister of Women Affairs, Mrs Pauline Tallen, has approached the Court of Appeal in Abuja, seeking to set aside the judgment of an FCT high court which barred her from holding public office.

Justice Peter Kekemeke of the FCT High Court had on Dec. 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 had, however, given 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, formulated 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 below.

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, and propriety of the suit, in spite of the credible evidence submitted, was a miscarriage of justice.

It would be recalled that while delivering judgment 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.”

It further held that the former minister’s call to disobey the judgement of the court was “contemptuous of the Federal High Court of Nigeria.”

Tallen’s battle with the NBA began after Sen Aisha Dahiru (Binani) the then Adamawa APC governorship flagbearer, polled 430 votes to defeat her closest rival, Nuhu Ribadu, who polled 288, during the May 2022 APC primary elections.

Binani’s closest opponent, Nuhu Ribadu, now National Security Adviser (NSA), challenged the outcome of the contest but Justice Abdulaziz Anka nullified Binani’s victory on account of non-compliance with the Electoral Act 2022, Nigeria’s constitution, and the APC’s guidelines.

Tallen, as the serving Minister of Women Affairs and a stalwart of the APC, while reacting to the judgment at a public function, allegedly described it as a Kangaroo judgment, whose aim was the marginalisation of women in Nigerian politics.

She alleged that many women, like Binani, who was the only female aspirant in the Adamawa APC governorship primary, were not treated fairly during the primaries for the 2023 general elections.

The NBA, led by its then President, Yakubu Maikyau, SAN, did not take the former minister’s comments lightly and sought an apology from her but to no avail.

The NBA then wrote her a letter, dated 14 November, 2022, demanding a withdrawal of the alleged disparaging comments and tendering of an unreserved and public apology to the court, which Tallen did not oblige.

According to the NBA, its letter was never responded to and its demands therein were not complied with by Tallen, hence the institution of the suit against her before the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory.