The controversy surrounding the Court of Appeal’s judgment of February 10, 2025, has sparked intense debate. The appeal, filed by the All Progressives Congress (APC), sought to reinstate local government executives sacked by Governor Ademola Adeleke on November 28, 2022.
Two schools of thought have emerged, with one side believing the judgment reinstated the sacked executives, while the other argues it only addressed preliminary issues, leaving the status of the executives unchanged.
To clarify the matter, Attorney General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) stated that the Court of Appeal did indeed reinstate the sacked executives. Despite the intervention of the Chief Law Officer of the federation, AGF, the Osun State government has maintained its stance, insisting the executives remain sacked, a development which encouraged the state independent electoral commission to proceed with a local government election on February 22, 2025.
To shed more light to the logjam, this article aims to break down the Court of Appeal’s judgment in simple terms to enable a wider range of readers to make informed opinions on the matter.
On July 27, 2022, the Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP) filed at the Federal High Court, Osogbo, a suit through an originating summons to challenge the plan of the Osun State Independent Electoral Commission (OSSIEC) to conduct elections to local governments in the state, claiming the Commission did not comply with the 2015 OSSIEC law
The All Progressives Congress (APC) raised an objection to the suit, stating that the case was speculative since the events pleaded in the suit were yet to occur.
On August 1, 2022, the Osun State Independent Electoral Commission (OSSIEC) law was enacted, repealing the 2015 OSSIEC law.
Upon enactment of the new OSSIEC law, the Commission published on August 15, 2022, a Notice of Election to the local governments in the state.
PDP, in a Notice for Amendment of Originating Summons dated August 31st, attempted to expand its scope of reliefs, questioning some sections of the newly promulgated OSSIEC law. The All Progressives Congress (APC), on points of law, objected to the leave to amend the suit, claiming the amendment was struggling to bring fresh facts to the case.
During the hearing, Counsel for APC argued that the PDP’s Originating Summons was incompetent because it did not disclose any cause of action. According to him, as at the time of filing the Originating Summons, no cause of action had accrued.
He held that the suit was premature as it did not complain of any direct injury to the PDP. He said the law envisages for plaintiff ( complainant) to establish in his pleadings that the defendants did an act or omission which caused him legal injury.
The Counsel submitted that the suit was defective, and argued that where there is a defect on the face of originating process, it follows that the plaintiff (litigant) has not activated jurisdictions of the Court properly. It requested the Federal High Court strike out the PDP’s suit.
On the Amendment to the Originating Summons, the Counsel for APC argued that a competent amended process must be confined to the day the original process was filed. In other words, facts occuring after the filing should not be tolerated as they will change the character of the case.
The APC held that since the Originating Summons was defective and incompetent, it followed that the process could not be amended since void originating summons cannot be amended.
In his judgement, Justice Nathaniel Ayo-Emmanuel found merits in the arguments of the PDP and disapproved of the defence of the APC.
Dissatisfied with the judgment of the Federal High Court, Osogbo, the All Progressives Congress (APC) appealed to the Court of Appeal, Akure, formulating four ( 4) issues for the appellate court to resolve:
1. Whether the lower court ( Federal High Court, Osogbo) was right to have granted the PDP’s prayer to amend its originating summons dated 27th July, 2022. The Court of Appeal said NO. That the Federal High Court was wrong in granting the prayer.
2. Whether the lower court was right to have held that the PDP disclosed reasonable cause of action and the suit did not constitute an abuse of court process. The Court of Appeal said PDP did not disclose reasonable cause of action.
3. Whether the lower court was right to have granted the relief sought by PDP on the ground of non-compliance with the Electoral Act by OSSIEC.
4. Whether the lower court was right to have made consequential order nullifying the local government election of 15 October, 2022, and ordering the duly elected officials to vacate their office forthwith despite the fact that such reliefs were not sought by PDP.
On the issues 3 and 4 above, the Court of Appeal held that since it was the position of the Court that there was no valid originating process to confer jurisdiction on the lower court to hear and determine the claim of the PDP, there was no point considering the remaining issues. The Court posited that a consideration of the remaining issues had become an academic exercise which the Court was not prepared to venture into. The court allowed all the reliefs of the APC in whole, including the relief seeking the restoration of the mandate given to the local government executives sacked by Governor Adeleke.
The judgement reads in part, “In the circumstances with the resolution of the two issues in favour of APC, it follows that this appeal is meritorious and it is accordingly allowed. The amended originating summons is hereby struck out for incompetence; consequently, Suit No: FHC/OS/CS/94/2023 be and is hereby struck out.”
What the foregoing says in essence is that when there was no valid foundation to confer jurisdiction on the lower court, the whole suit brought by the PDP, be it what the law says regarding Notice of Elections or otherwise, was designed to crumble and would crumble. The judgement affirms the importance of jurisdiction in a lawsuit. It says jurisdiction is the fulcrum of every legal case. When the jurisdiction is absent, the case is absent.
However, it is strange that this elaborately clear judgement is what some mischievous commentators are twisting to hit up the polity. Rather than eating a humble pie and admitting that it instituted a foolish and premature suit, the PDP and the Government of Osun are engaging in treasonous, contemptuous and unpatriotic actions of disobeying the judgment of a competent court.
The judgement of the Court of Appeal of February 10, 2022, conducted a surgical operation on the verdict of the Federal High Justice of November 25, 2022, and found irredeemable loopholes in all the reliefs granted to PDP by Justice Ayo-Emmanuel, including the order sacking all the local government executives produced by the October 15, 2022 elections. Given the soundness of the Appeal Court judgement, it is safe to conclude that the case of the PDP is hopeless and it would fail monstrously at the Supreme Court if finally appealed to the apex court.