April 06, (THEWILL) – The Court of Appeal sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, has upturned the judgement of a Federal High Court of the state, which awarded over thirty billion naira against Ebonyi State Government and a garnishee order.
The Federal High Court presided over by Justice S.D Pam had on July 15, 2022, delivered judgement against the Ebonyi State Government in a suit brought to it by Andrew Bishopton Limited and two other claimants, over a failed/discontinued contract for the recovery of excess deductions from Paris Club loan.
Andrew Bishop Ltd, through Mrs Jackie Ikeotuonye and others, had approached the lower Court to claim, among other things, the sum of thirty billion naira and other ancillary claims against the State Government as irreparable damages for failure to pay a 25 percent Commission on the failed contract, which the Federal High Court granted.
The appellate court, however, upturned the judgement for lack of jurisdiction of the court, as well as its lack of merit.
The recent judgement by the Appeal Court was sequel to an appeal filed by the Ebonyi State Government and the State Attorney General being appellants in a suit marked: Appeal No: CA/PH/321/2022, challenging the judgement of the lower Court on the grounds of improper determination of the jurisdiction of the trial Court, the facts of the case and circumstances surrounding the suit.
In his argument, counsel to the appellants, referring to section 251(1) of the 1999 constitution, as amended, and Order 2 rule 2 of the Federal High Court Civil Rule 2019, submitted that the Federal High Court, Port Harcourt had no jurisdiction to handle the matter.
He contended that the facts before the court were hotly contested by the parties, asserting that the seriousness of the conflict was one that documents could resolve.
The appellants’ counsel also submitted that the evidence before the trial Court showed that the 1st respondent never recovered any money for the appellants as shown in the available exhibits.
In a ruling on the suit delivered by Justices Gabriel O. Kolawole, Olabode A. Adegbehingbe and Abul-Azeez Waziri, on April 3, 2023, the appellate court unanimously resolved all the issues in favour of the appellants – Ebonyi State Government and the State Attorney- General.
The lead Justice, Justice Waziri, therefore, submitted: “With the resolution of the four issues donated by the appellants in their favour, the destiny of this appeal is obvious.
“The appeal is allowed, and the judgement of the trial court is hereby set aside for lack of jurisdiction, same, therefore, is struck out.
“Parties are to bear their respective costs for prosecuting and defending the appeal.”
Sunday Ogbu is a professional journalist with eight - twelve years experience that had worked with various print and online media. Sunday specializes in news reporting with the aim of educating his readers on current social, political and economic occurences within his area of coverage. Sunday is a strong force to work with in the media industry and uses his positive attitude and tireless energy to encourage others to work hard and succeed. Sunday is inspired daily by his wife and their four children. In his free time, Sunday likes sight-seeing, reading and discussing issues of societal interest.
