Court Of Appeal Panel Returns SERAP Case File For Reassignment After Courtroom Drama
By Sunday Etuka
A Court of Appeal panel in Abuja on Tuesday sent back for reassignment the file in a sister appeal against the N101 million defamation judgment won by two Department of State Services operatives, after counsel to SERAP’s deputy director failed to present his application properly.
The Socio Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has now stumbled twice in less than a week over the appeal against the judgment, which a Federal Capital Territory High Court delivered in May. Last Friday, the group’s failure to file its application forced the three member panel, whose judges flew into Abuja for the hearing, to adjourn until Tuesday.
The panel’s patience wore thin after more than an hour of listening to Kolawole Ogundare’s counsel. The lead judge, Justice Danlami Senchi, told the lawyer he should have sought the advice of his seniors and criticised the way the prayers were framed.
“We can’t grant this. You have to withdraw and refile it,” the judge said, adding that the case file was being sent back for reassignment.
Earlier, a brief drama unfolded when SERAP’s lead counsel, Tayo Oyetibo, SAN, told the court that an application was pending for certain persons to be joined as amici curiae, or friends of the court.
Professor Olarewaju Fagbohun, SAN, a former vice chancellor of the University of Lagos, rose to say he appeared for Columbia University’s Global Freedom of Expression Initiative and for United Nations Special Rapporteurs on freedom of assembly and association and on freedom of opinion and expression.
He said the application was filed on October 12 and sought leave to assist the court with independent submissions.
Justice Senchi was unimpressed. “Did the court invite you? Let’s be serious,” he asked, adding that the panel had not sought any assistance and that the image such applications create is not good for the legal profession.
When Fagbohun said the group was not adversarial, the judge replied that every matter is decided on its merit and that the foreign lawyers were not parties in the lower court or at the Court of Appeal. He urged the professor to withdraw the application so proceedings could move forward.
Fagbohun promptly withdrew it and apologised to the court. The judge commended him, saying his junior colleagues would be pleased. Mojirayo Ogunlana, who represented the Southern African Litigation Centre, also withdrew her own application to serve as amicus curiae.
The panel then reserved judgment on the first appeal by the Incorporated Trustees of SERAP before turning to the sister appeal that had caused Friday’s adjournment. Justice Senchi suggested that Fagbohun’s intervention was aimed at stopping the appeal from continuing.
“You just like to talk. This is a court of record. You’re before the Court of Appeal,” he said, before returning the file.
One note: the source text refers to the “University of Columbus,” which appears to be a typing error, so I used Columbia University. Please confirm this before publication.
