Supreme Court can't help Atiku, Obi's 'Causes'

By Ehichioya Ezomon In my May 15, 2023, article in New Telegraph on, ‘Election Petitions: Need for litigants and judges to avoid technicalities,’ I referenced an opinion piece by lawyer and rights activist, Olu Adegboruwa (SAN) on, ‘The evils of technical justice.’ Adegboruwa's article of February 2, 2021 (SaharaReporters) stemmed from the Supreme Court ruling on the Osun governorship election, in which the issue of "technicalities" reared its ugly head regarding "originating summons" and "writ of summons," and how the apex court had interchangeably applied "technicalities" in its opinions. Yet, the court cautions against shutting out hearing litigants simply on ground of technicalities. In the case of Boniface Ebere Okezie & 3 Ors. v. Central Bank of Nigeria & 5 Ors. (2020) 15 NWLR (Pt.1747) 181 - that lasted 11 years (2009-2020), the Supreme Court advised: "The paramount duty of courts is to do substantial justice and not cling to technicalities that will defeat the ends of justice. It is more in the interest of justice that parties are afforded reasonable opportunity for their rights to be investigated and determined on merit rather than that parties be shut out prematurely from being heard on the grounds of non-substantial compliance with rules of court. This admonition re-echoes in the wake of the judgment of the Presidential Election Petitions Court (PEPC), which on September 6, dismissed petitions challenging the declaration of Bola Tinubu as winner of the February 25 presidential poll, and affirmed him as duly elected President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Though they're not "shut out prematurely" from being heard, two of the plaintiffs - former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and former Anambra State governor Peter Obi of Labour Party (LP) - have complained about the Tribunal applying technicalities to dismiss their petitions against the declaration by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) - and are heading to the Supreme Court for redress. Read more: https://phmundial.com/supreme-court-cant-help-atiku-obis-causes/

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