A federal capital territory high court has barred Pauline Tallen, former minister of women affairs and social development, from holding public office.
Tallen‘s “disparaging comments” about the judiciary in response to a decision by the federal high court in Adamawa last year were condemned by the court in a ruling issued on Monday.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate for Adamawa in the last general election, Aishatu Dahiru, better known as Binani, was declared ineligible by a court in Yola, the state capital.
Tallen, on the other hand, expressed her displeasure with the court’s decision, calling it a “Kangaroo judgement” and advising Nigerians to reject it.
Following that, NBA President Yakubu Maikyau wrote to the former minister. He requested that she withdraw her comments and tender an unqualified apology to the court for the “disparaging and contemptuous remarks.”
Tallen had been threatened with a lawsuit if she did not withdraw her statement.
However, the NBA claimed that the letter was never responded to, so the CV/816/2016 lawsuit was filed.
The court ruled on Monday that Tallen’s remark was unconstitutional, careless, reckless, disparaging, a call to disobey the court’s judgement, and thus contemptuous of the federal high court of Nigeria.
It also issued an injunction barring the ex-minister from holding any public office in Nigeria unless she repents of her actions by publishing a personally signed apology letter to Nigerians and the judiciary on the front pages of two national newspapers.
The court ruled that if the defendant does not publish an apology within 30 days, the injunction barring her from holding any public office in Nigeria will become permanent.