By Fatoregun Olawale
\nOn January 26, 2017, students of National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN)
\nwere waiting for the ruling of the case between rusticated student leaders
\nof the Congress of NOUN Students and management of NOUN which started over
\na year ago, but what came out from Justice Olatoregun Ishola\u2019s court was an
\noutright rape of justice, never seen or heard before in the history of
\nNigeria\u2019s Jurisprudence. Olatoregun Ishola not only granted an unknown
\napplication by NOUN to \u201carrest the judgment\u2019\u2019 about to be delivered for the
\nsecond time, she practically murdered justice, right inside the court of
\nlaw.
\nThe matter was first reserved for judgment on 18th April, 2016, but
\njudgment wasn\u2019t delivered due to a defective application to arrest judgment
\nmade by the counsel to National Open University. The matter went on and on,
\nuntil the matter was eventually reserved for judgment on January 26, 2017.
\nHowever, rather than deliver judgment as expected; Justice Olatoregun
\ninstead stabbed the students in the heart by helping the unjust benefit
\nfrom their injustice, through granting their request to arrest judgment
\nwithout any basis of law.
\nThe ancient philosopher Plato had said \u201cTo do injustice is the greatest of
\nall evils\u2019\u2019, but according to Justice Mustapha Dahiru, a former Chief
\nJustice of Nigeria, \u201cMetaphorically, an unjust judge is more harmful to the
\nsociety than a man who runs amok with a dagger in a crowded street. The
\nlatter as you know can be restrained physically, but the former
\ndeliberately destroys the moral foundation of the society and causes
\nincalculable distress to individuals, while still answering \u2018honorable\u2019\u201d.
\nTo say this in another way, nothing is more unjust, than the injustice
\nperpetrated in the court of law, by a so called judge, under the illusion
\nof doing justice. Justice Ishola is one of those unjust individuals,
\nsitting in Nigerian courts, destroying the moral foundation of our society
\nand still answering \u2018honorable\u2019 and if one traces the root cause all evils
\nin our society, there is no doubt whatsoever that injustice in high places
\nwill most likely be number one on the list. It is the cause of all problems.
\nThe perpetrators of these injustices hide under the guise of law, power and
\nauthority, but more importantly, they are aware that should their act of
\ninjustice find no law, no power or authority to cite as justification, they
\ncan still rely on their fellow unjust partners in the justice department to
\nuse what is now described by Justice Olatoregun Ishola of the Federal High
\nCourt, as \u201cpersonal discretion\u2019\u2019 in a matter already settled by the Supreme
\nCourt as non-existent.
\nWe all recall how National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) illegally
\nexpelled two leaders of\u00a0 Congress of NOUN Students (CONS) namely Abdulrazaq
\nOyebanji Hamzat and Elias Ozikpu for exercising their rights to free
\nassociation and expression in November 2015. The students and their
\ncolleagues at the Congress approached a Federal High Court in Lagos to
\nchallenge their illegal expulsion and the matter first came up for hearing
\non 26th January 2016.
\nWhile the students\u2019 counsel\u00a0 has consistently followed the laid down
\nprocedures as contained in the provisions of Fundamental Rights
\n(Enforcement Procedure Rules) 2009, the Open University counsel whose name
\nis Nas Ogunsakin appeared to be outright incompetent or deliberately
\nfollowing wrong procedures to frustrate the speedy delivery of justice.
\nFor example, where Fundamental Rights (Enforcement Procedure Rules) 2009
\nsays:
\n\u201cWhere the respondent intends to oppose the application, he shall file his
\nwritten address within 5 days of the service on him of such application and
\nmay accompany it with a counter affidavit\u201d,
\nNOUN lawyer would deliberately refuse to respond as stipulated. When the
\ncounsel eventually files his papers, it would be done in a wrong manner to
\nwaste time and delay the course of justice. This unprofessional conduct has
\nled to several adjournments.
\nIn other instances, when NOUN counsel secures adjournment, he would
\ndeliberately absent himself from court in the next hearing date, forcing
\nanother adjournment to be made by the court. And as this practice
\ncontinued, the matter was eventually reserved for judgment after all
\nwritten addresses had been filed in line with of Order XII Rule 3 of the
\nFundamental Rights (Enforcement Procedure Rules) 2009 which states clearly
\nthus:
\n\u201cWhen all the parties\u2019 written addresses have been filed and come up for
\nadoption and either of the parties is absent, the Court shall either on its
\nown motion or upon oral application by the Counsel for the party present,
\norder that the addresses be deemed adopted if the Court is satisfied that
\nall the parties had notice of the date for adoption and a party shall be
\ndeemed to have notice of the date for adoption if on the previous date last
\ngiven, the party or his counsel was present in court.\u201d
\nIt was after the matter had been reserved for judgment that NOUN counsel
\nfelt the need to file an application to \u201carrest judgment\u2019\u2019 under the guise
\nof fair hearing, something unknown to the Nigerian legal system.
\nHowever, rather than throw away such baseless application and deliver her
\njudgment, Justice Olatoregun decided to turn her court into a temple of
\ninjustice by granting the unknown defective application to arrest judgment
\nunder the illusion of fairness.
\nThe real question however is, under what authority did Justice Olatoregun
\ngranted such unknown application? The answer is not far-fetched, there was
\nnone. This is a perfect example of outright abuse of authority. Appeal and
\nSupreme Courts have consistently ruled that such application has no room in
\nNigeria legal system. It only exists in Olatoregun\u2019s discretion.
\nIn the case of S.I.E.C. EKITI STATE VS N.C.P. (2008)12 NWLR [PT1102]733, it
\nwas held in respect of a similar application as follows:
\n\u201cThe rules of court do not make provisions for an application for an arrest
\nof judgment which is about to be delivered by a court. An application not
\nrecognized by the rules of court cannot be described as a proper
\napplication. An application to arrest a judgment about to be delivered is a
\ncynical attempt to taunt the trial court. In the instant case, the
\nappellant by its application to arrest the judgment of the learned trial
\ncourt did its best to treat the proceedings of the court with disdain\u201d
\nAdditionally, In the case of FORGO BATTERY COMPANY LIMITED v. ALAO LAIDE
\nADEBAYO & ANOR in Ilorin Division of the Appeal Court with suit number:
\nCA\/IL\/58\/2013, the Court of Appeal had this to say about arrest of judgment:
\n\u201cThe procedure for arrest of judgment is exotic to our legal system… The
\napplicant herein cannot and does not have any right to rewind the
\nproceedings to the starting point after the appeal has been heard and
\njudgment reserved. His reason that he wants to inject life into the notice
\nof appeal seems quite funny and a gawky attempt to play hooky. The
\nappellants’ dread of the notice of appeal came too late in the day when the
\nappeal has been heard and reserved for judgment. It behooves the parties to
\nawait the decision of the court on the merits of their respective
\narguments. It is implausible for an appeal already heard to recommence all
\nover by extension of time to file the same notice of appeal. The fact that
\ndate for delivery of the judgment has not been fixed notwithstanding. The
\napplicant cannot at this stage be heard to complain about any right to fair
\nhearing, which he has already enjoyed. The principle cannot be unduly
\ninvoked by the Court in favour of one of the parties to the disadvantage of
\nthe other party.\u201d
\nAnd finally at the Supreme Court, in the case of Newswatch Communications
\nLtd vs Alhaji Aliyu Ibrahim Atta on 28th day of April, 2006, SC.101\/2001.
\nThe apex court held about a similar application as follows:
\n\u201c…the application to arrest the judgment of the Court is only a gimmick
\ndesigned to forestall the delivery of the judgment for as long as the
\ndefendants wish… the procedure for arrest of judgment is now hardly known
\nin our civil jurisprudential system.\u201d
\nTherefore, it is very clear that Justice Olatoregun Ishola has perpetrated
\nthe most despicable act of injustice, by granting the application to arrest
\njudgment. No wonder most people prefer to take laws into their own hands,
\nrather than approach the court for redress.
\nFatoregun Olawale is a civil rights activist based in Ondo<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Fatoregun Olawale On January 26, 2017, students of National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) were waiting for the ruling of the case between rusticated student leaders of the Congress…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":55807,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-opinions"],"yoast_head":"\n