Nine months after he was unceremoniously suspended as the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Isa Ayo-Salami got a reprieve as the National Judiciary Council (NJC) has instructed President Goodluck Jonathan to reinstate him.

Rising from a two-day meeting, the council unanimously agreed that a letter be written to the president to reinstate Justice Salami.

Although, no official of the NJC confirmed the development, a council member who confided in journalists said that the imbroglio created by the suspension of Salami has been finally laid to rest.

He confirmed that a decision had been taken that he be reinstated and that a letter should be written to the president to re -instate him.

The NJC had on August 18th, 2011 recommended to the president to suspend Justice Salami and in less than 48 hours after receiving the recommendation, Jonathan suspended him claiming that there was a need to avoid a vacuum by the NJC.

NJC had recommended Salami for suspension after he refused to apologise to the council and the former Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Aloysius Katsina-Alu after a panel of the council found him to have lied against the CJN.

Justice Dalhatu Adamu was appointed immediately to take over as the President of the Court of Appeal, being the most senior justice of the court.

A suit filed by Justice Salami, challenging his suspension is still pending at the Court of Appeal following a reference to that court by the High Court.

The Appeal Court is to determine whether the case filed by Justice Salami was an employment dispute or not.