The
Supreme Court has dismissed an application filed by a factional leader of the
Peoples Democratic Party, Ali-Modu Sheriff, asking the court not to hear a
motion by his challenger, Ahmed Makarfi.
Mr. Sheriff had asked the court to refuse
hearing on the application filed by Mr. Makarfi, challenging the February 17
judgement of the Appeal Court in Port Harcourt which made Mr. Sheriff leader of
the PDP.
At the opening of the hearing on Monday, Mr.
Sheriff’s lawyer, Akin Olujimi, said the application was an abuse of court
process because Mr. Makarfi ought to have requested the leave of court before
making the application.
Mr. Olujimi prayed the court to dismiss the
application.
In a short ruling on the application, a
five-member panel led by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Walter Onnoghen, said
the application by Mr. Makarfi was considered valid since it complied with the
rules of the Supreme Court.
Mr. Onnoghen said according to the Supreme
Court rules, an application challenging a decision of a lower court ought to
have come within three months after the ruling of the lower court.
He said the apex court had taken note of the
fact that the case was decided at the lower court in February, while the motion
at the Supreme Court was filed less than three months after the ruling by the
lower court.
He therefore gave a unanimous ruling in favour of the Makarfi
faction, and awarded an unstated cost against the faction led by Mr. Sheriff.
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