Recall that Suit No. ID/4747GCM/2021: Roselyn Obakpolor, Esq. & Anor vs. The Registered Trustees of Nigerian Bar Association & 15 Ors was duly served on all the Defendants therein, including Chairman Bartholomew Aguegbodo and the members of the purported Election Committee appointed by him.
Notwithstanding the service of the court processes on the Defendants and being fully aware of the pendency of Suit No. ID/4747GCW/2021 since the 9th of August, 2021, the Election Committee, with the instigation and full backing of Chairman Bartholomew Aguegbodo, continued to take steps towards the conduct of the By-elections, the subject matter of the above mentioned suit, on the ground that no order has been made by the Court.
However, at the resumed proceedings on Monday, the 23rd of August, 2021, the High Court of Lagos State made a positive order directing parties to maintain status quo pending the hearing and determination of the Motion on Notice for interlocutory injunction filed by the Claimants in the suit and the enrollment Order and Ruling was duly served on all the Defendants, including Chairman Bartholomew Aguegbodo and members of his Election Committee.
Now, in what looks like a very desperate, brazen and deliberate attempt to disobey the subsisting Order of Court and bring the judiciary, legal profession and NBA to disrepute, Chairman Bartholomew Aguegbodo insists on proceeding with the by-elections today, at all costs. His only reason for insisting on proceeding with the elections even in the face of a subsisting court order is that he has filed a grossly incompetent Notice of Appeal and a Motion for stay of execution which were posted on social media platforms without service of the said processes on any Respondent.
Pray, how does the filing of the aforementioned processes give Bartholomew Aguegbodo and his cohorts the license to disobey a valid and subsisting court Order?
The law is settled beyond any argument that An Order of court is valid, binding and subsisting for all intent and and purposes until set aside, and or discharged by a court of competent jurisdiction. See NIDOCO LTD VS GBAJABIAMILA (2013) LPELR–20899 (SC), AGBOGUNLERI VS DEBO (2008) LPELR–243 (SC), BABATUNDE VS OLATUNJI (2009)2SC 9,EMENIKE VS ORJI & ORS (2008) LPELR–4103 (CA),INTRGRATED BUILDERS VS DOMZAG VENT NIG LTD (2005)8NWLR (PT909)97. Moreso, where a party perceives that the order of court was made in error,,or where it is apparent on the face of the order that same is a nullity or where an application to set aside and discharge the order has been filed, the order already made still subsists and binding, until a court of competent jurisdiction sets it aside and or discharges the order. See IZEZE VS INEC &ORS,(20018) LPELR–44284 SC, See particularly the case of EUROPEAN SOAP &DETERGENT LTD VS MW BEER &CO LTD (2017)LPELR—41873 (CA).In EDICON NIG LTD VS UBA PLC (2017)LPELR–42342 (SC),the supreme Court per Galinje, JSC held inter–alia “The law is settled beyond any argument that a judgment or ruling of a court of law, no matter how incorrectly arrived at is valid, binding and subsisting until it is set aside…”
As Chairman Bartholomew Aguegbodo and his cohorts continue in their illegalities, one thing is very clear, Chairman Bartholomew Aguegbodo is not and can never be above the law of the land.
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