A Federal High Court in Yola had nullified the candidature of Aishatu Binani as the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress in the state in a suit filed by the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, challenging her emergence.
Reacting to the judgment, Tallen at the Annual General Meeting of her alma mater, Federal Government Girls’ College, Bida, described the judgment as “a kangaroo judgment.”
The Nigerian Bar Association asked Tallen to withdraw her comments and tender an apology within seven days.
Following her refusal, the NBA instituted a case against the former minister.
Delivering judgment on the matter on Monday, the court held that her comment was contemptuous.
A statement by the NBA’s spokesperson, Akorede Lawal, noted that the court ordered her to publish an apology letter to Nigerians and the judiciary in The PUNCH and Guardian Newspapers.
Lawal said the court ordered that she risked being barred from holding any public office in the country if she disobeyed.
The statement partly read, “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 the court, and therefore contemptuous of the Federal High Court of Nigeria.
“The court also granted among other reliefs, an injunction restraining Dame Pauline Tallen (the defendant) 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 on a full page of The PUNCH and Guardian Newspapers.
“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.”
He noted that the NBA remains committed to maintaining, advancing, and defending the integrity of the judiciary, adding that those who seek to denigrate the judiciary are brought to book.
