A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and founding partner of Primera Africa Legal, Boma Ayomide Alabi, has reacted to the recent conflicting Orders of High Courts

Recently, High Courts in Rivers, Kebbi, Cross River, and Delta states issued conflicting orders touching on the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The first was issued on August 23 by Justice Okogbule Gbasam, a vacation judge in the Degema division of the High Court of Rivers State in a suit marked: PHC/2183/CS/2021 filed by Ibeawuchi Alex, Dennis Amadi, Emmanuel Stephen, and Umezerike Onucha against Secondus and the PDP (as defendants).

Justice Gbasam, after listening to applicants’ lawyer, Henry Bello, made an order restraining Secondus from parading himself as a member of the National Chairman of the PDP.

On August 26, Justice Nusirat Umar, also a vacation judge of the High Court of Kebbi State in Birnin Kebbi, gave an ex-parte order staying the execution the Rivers State High Court’s orders removing Secondus from office.

On August 27, Justice Edem Kooffreh, a vacation judge in the High Court of Cross Rivers State in Calabar restored the order by the Rivers State High Court in an ex-parte ruling on a suit, marked HC/240/2021n filed by Enang Wani.

Justice Kooffreh barred Secondus from resuming or visiting the party’s office as Chairman.

Alabi, who happens to be a former president of, Commonwealth Lawyers Association, said litigants are to be blamed for the conflicting court orders. According to her, if information are not disclosed to the court, the court cannot go and find out information by itself.

She said, “We will blame litigants in a lot of situations because if you do not disclose information to the court, the court cannot go and find out information by itself. We as lawyers owe a duty to the courts to bring information that will impact the judgment or ruling to their attention. So, if there is a case before this judge and you know that there is an identical case somewhere else, it should have been brought to the attention of the court.

“It is best to await the outcome of the investigation of the record of proceedings to know what exactly went on before those courts. Until then, we will not know what information was given to the judges that led to the rulings.”

Alabi, therefore, advised that to avoid future occurrence of the same situation, law reporting should be centralized to enable judges to stay current on the happenings in various courts

“It can be prevented easily. It is just a question of centralising our reporting and law reports, having it reported in real-time and giving the tools to our judiciary to enable the researchers to conduct research and quickly get information. Right now, it is not centralised. Something may be happening in Lagos and someone is sitting as a judge in Abuja, for instance. The ruling or judgment will not be reported in the Federal Capital Territory and the judge may honestly not know that this matter has gone before a judge in Lagos, the same parties and the same matter, except the lawyer or parties bring it to the judge’s attention. That is certainly a step that can be taken to try and avoid such conflicting issues.” she said

She further explained the National Judicial Service Commission has a role to play in the situation. According to her, the Commission can investigate and sanction a judge if judicial rascality is found on the part of the judge.

She said, “The NJC is crucial in this entire drama, to borrow from you. The NJC can investigate all complaints against judges on this issue and bring out the details of what actually transpired to reassure Nigerian citizens and the litigating public and shore up their confidence in the system. If in the course of the investigation, they find there’s been judicial rascality, then, they can sanction the judges, and in extreme cases, have them dismissed. What powers do the NJC have over these judges? The NJC is the regulator of judges. So, figuratively speaking, they have the power of life and death.”

"Exciting news! TheNigeriaLawyer is now on WhatsApp Channels 🚀 Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest legal insights!" Click here! ....................................................................................................................... Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material and other digital content on this website, in whole or in part, without express and written permission from TheNigeriaLawyer, is strictly prohibited _________________________________________________________________ [Register Now] ILA Nigeria Branch Marks 10 Years With Infrastructure Financing As Theme For 7th Annual Conference The International Law Association - Nigeria Branch 7th annual conference on public-private partnerships for sustainable infrastructure financing, April 4-5 in Abuja. Details: https://ilanigeria.org.ng/conference _________________________________________________________________

NIALS' Compendia Series: Your One-Stop Solution For Navigating Nigerian Laws (2004-2023)

Email: info@nials.edu.ng, tugomak@yahoo.co.uk, Contact: For Inquiry and information, kindly contact, NIALS Director of Marketing: +2348074128732, +2348100363602.