Former Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Pauline Tallen, has submitted 13 grounds to the Court of Appeal, Abuja Division, contesting the judgment of the Federal Capital Territory High Court concerning the “Kangaroo” public remarks she made regarding a decision of the Federal High Court.
Filed on her behalf by the law firm of Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Joe-Kyari Gadzama, the 22-page notice of appeal was submitted.
Dated December 29, 2023, the notice challenges the entire decision rendered by Justice Peter Kekemeke on December 18th in favor of the Incorporated Trustees of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA).
In that ruling, the Court deemed Tallen’s statement unconstitutional, careless, reckless, disparaging, a call to disobey the court’s judgment, and therefore contemptuous of the Federal High Court of Nigeria.
Justice Kekemeke granted various reliefs, including an injunction preventing her from holding any public office in Nigeria unless she rectifies her conduct by publishing a personally signed apology letter to Nigerians and the Judiciary in two newspapers.
The Court specified that the injunction prohibiting Tallen from holding any public office in Nigeria would become perpetual if she fails to comply with the directive to publish an apology letter within 30 days.
However, in the first ground of her notice of appeal contesting the judgment, the former minister contends that the trial court erred in law and resulted in a miscarriage of justice by holding contrary to a Supreme Court decision stating that a lawyer cannot depose to an affidavit in a matter in which they participated.
Among other grounds, the former minister argues that the trial judge inaccurately relied on Section 1 (3) and/or Section 3(1) of the NBA Constitution when determining that the association had the necessary locus standi to bring the action against her. She emphasizes that the NBA was not a party in the suit before the Federal High Court, referring to the judgment as a “kangaroo” judgment.
She seeks the Court of Appeal to overturn the trial court’s decision, uphold her preliminary objection to the NBA Suit, dismiss Justice Kekemeke’s judgment, and award costs.
In December 2022, the Incorporated Trustees of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) initiated legal proceedings against Dame Pauline Tallen regarding her public remarks concerning the judgment of the Federal High Court in Suit No. FHC/YL/12/2022 between Mallam Nuhu Ribadu v. All Progressives Congress (APC) & 2 Ors, delivered on October 14, 2022.
Tallen had on the 15th of October, 2022 described the court decision as “a kangaroo judgment that should be rejected by well-meaning Nigerians”.
By a letter dated 14 November 2022, the NBA President, Mr. Yakubu Chonoko Maikyau, OON, SAN had written to the former minister 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.
She did not reply to the letter, leading the NBA to file a lawsuit against her in the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory.
On December 18, 2023, the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory ruled in favor of the Incorporated Trustees of the NBA, delivering a judgment against the defendant, Pauline Tallen.