A former Minister of Women Affairs, Mrs. Pauline Tallen, has taken her case to the Court of Appeal in Abuja, seeking to overturn the judgment of the FCT High Court that barred her from holding public office. This move follows a ruling by Justice Peter Kekemeke on December 18, 2023, in response to a case brought against her by the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA).
The FCT High Court had prohibited Tallen from holding public office due to her alleged “disparaging” comments against a previous court judgment.
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Justice Kekemeke provided her with an option to publish a personally signed apology letter to the NBA, the judiciary, and Nigerians in two national dailies—The Guardian and The Punch—within 30 days. Failure to comply would result in the order becoming perpetual.
In her appeal filed on January 2, 2024, through her lawyer, JK Gadzama SAN, Tallen formulated 13 grounds challenging the trial court’s decision. She argued that the judgment amounted to a miscarriage of justice and urged the appellate court to dismiss the suit and set aside the previous court’s decision.
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Tallen asserted that the trial court erred in law, particularly in rejecting her preliminary objection on the competence of the respondent’s affidavit, locus standi, and propriety of the suit. She contended that despite presenting credible evidence, the court’s decision was a miscarriage of justice.
The FCT High Court had labeled Tallen’s comments against the judiciary, concerning a decision of the Federal High Court in Adamawa State, as “unconstitutional, careless, reckless, disparaging.” It deemed her call to disobey the judgment as “contemptuous of the Federal High Court of Nigeria.
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The legal battle originated from the APC primary elections in May 2022, where Sen Aisha Dahiru (Binani) defeated Tallen’s closest rival, Nuhu Ribadu. Following the nullification of Binani’s victory by Justice Abdulaziz Anka, Tallen, as the Minister of Women Affairs, publicly criticized the judgment as a “Kangaroo judgment” aimed at marginalizing women in Nigerian politics.
The NBA, under then-President Yakubu Maikyau, SAN, sought an apology from Tallen for her alleged disparaging comments. When Tallen did not comply, the NBA instituted a suit against her before the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, leading to the recent judgment that she is now appealing.
