A federal High Court in Abuja dismissed the application by the Governors’ Forum to be joined as interested party to the suit filed by Linas International Ltd and others against the Federal Government, the Attorney General of the Federation, Minister of Finance and the Accountant General of the Federation as the 1st to the 4th defendants.
In a suit with no FHC/ABJ/130/2013, the Governors’ Forum had sought the leave of the court of be joined in the suit, among other prayers.
The applicant (Governors’ Forum) had also sought the leave of the court to appeal against the judgment of Hon. Justice A.F.A Ademola (Retd.), which asked the defendants to pay Linas International a judgment sum as consultancy fee for the job it carried for local government areas across the country over the Paris Club Refund.
According to the trial judge, Justice Tohn Tsoho, where time to appeal had elapsed before the applicant became aware of the decision appealed against as in the case at hand, it stands to reason that this court has lost the power to grant such leave, noting that the judgment it sought to appeal was given in 2016.
“This is so because it is trite law that the Federal High Court can neither extend the time within which to file a notice of appeal nor grant extension of time to apply for leave to appeal. Only the Court of Appeal has the jurisdictional competence so to do.
“Under the doctrine of stare decisis, this court is bound to follow the decision of the Supreme Court on this issue.
“Accordingly, I hold that this court lacks the jurisdiction to grant the reliefs sought on the motion paper. Therefore the motion dated 12th April, 2021 but filed on 12th June 2021 is liable to be struck out for being incompetent.
On the issue of stay of execution of the earlier judgment, Justice Tsoho held that stay was possible when: “There must be a pending appeal and the pending appeal must be valid in law. Where there is no pending appeal in a matter, an application for stay of execution will not be granted as the application is incompetent.
“Where a judgment is declaratory and executor, a court will grant a stay of execution. The applicant in such circumstance ought to apply for an injunction pending appeal.
“Where the judgment being sought to be stayed has already been carried out or executed. And order of stay would not ordinarily lie or made since there will be nothing to be stayed.”
According to him: “A prayer for stay of execution cannot be for an indefinite period or large but must be made pending the determination of the appeal filed by the applicant.”
He therefore held that “As a consequence of the foregoing findings, the application of the interested party/applicant fails in its entirely and accordingly dismissed.”
The court wondered how the Forum that was never sued or part of the case at the first instance trial will now be seeking to appeal the judgment.
He stated further: “There is no doubt that the respondents were not part of the proceedings at the trial Court, hence they sought to appeal as respondent had, inter alia, sought an order of the court below extending time for them within which to seek leave to appeal against the judgment of the trial Federal High Court of 29/6/2016.”
The court said the Forum has not shoen enough reason that it is part of the case to granted the prayers it sought.
“The interested party/applicant in this application has not shown by affidavit evidence that it was not aware or did not know of the pendency of the suit in this court as to warrant the indulgence sought. He has to explain the reason for delay in appealing the decision within time. It is not sufficient to state that the applicant was not made a party. What was the reason for waiting for over seven years before coming to a decision to appeal? This has not been explained in the affidavit in support of the application.
“Application for leave to appeal, being an equitable remedy is never granted for the asking. The court must be satisfied that there is a justifiable reason which prevented the applicant from exercising its constitutional right of appeal before the prayers can be granted. The only interest shown in the Governors’ Forum is a registered political pressure group for Nigerian governors within the Nigerian polity. I do not see how the judgment arising from enforceable contract between the judgment creditor and judgment debtor and the garnishee has affected the applicant who is not a party to the contract. The applicant is neither a state nor a local government. I therefore resolve this issue against the applicant and hold that the interested party/applicant did not fulfil the requirement for leave to appeal.”
The court therefore dismissed all the prayers sought by the Governors’ Forum in favour of Linas International and the federal government – that has resolved to pay the judgment sum.
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