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By Sarafa Ibrahim
On Monday, a correspondence from the Legal Department of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on the controversy of those that should legally lay claim to the local governments in Osun state went viral. The correspondence stemmed from a request made by the YES or NO officials for the recognition of the apex bank and the release of monthly allocations for the councils to them.
The YES or NO officials premised their request on February 10, 2022, judgement of the Court of Appeal in Akure, which they claimed reinstated them. It would be recalled that the Federal High Court, Osogbo, in two separate judgements delivered on November 25 and 30 respectively, invalidated the October 15, 2022 elections that purportedly brought the YES or NO officials to office for contravening Sections 28, 29 and 150 of the Electoral Act, 2022, and as well as a 2010 judgement of the Supreme Court.
In the correspondence signed by Uzoamaka Onwuka for the Legal Adviser/Director, Legal Service Department, the CBN observed that “what was enclosed with your letter, was the Order of the COA, allowing the appeal against the judgement of the FHC, but not the judgement of the COA that reinstated the LG Chairmen.” By this position, the CBN asserted the well established truth that the Osun APC has been running away from– there is no order from the Court of Appeal that reinstated the court-sacked officials.
Typical of its penchant for illegality, however absurd, the Osun APC choose to fight the truth, using not just lies but misguided narratives to maintain its lawless approach. The reality, which seems to have eluded the Osun APC in its desperate power grab agenda is that, the CBN is an institution whose commitment to the rule of law weighs heavily on the economy of the country, as investors confidence is founded on the rule of law of a country.
In the 53 page of the Court of Appeal judgement, nowhere did the court order the reinstatement of the sacked YES or NO officials. In fact, the Court of Appeal refused to go into the question of the legality of the election that produced the YES or NO officials which was formulated in issues 3 and 4 of the appeal as it was deemed “academic exercise.” This explains why the reinstatement claim by the Osun APC couldn’t be in the enrolment order of the judgement, which the CBN reviewed and found not sufficient to accord any recognition of the YES or NO officials.
Law is a very straightforward thing, and the truth, which the Osun APC must bring itself to accept is that, there is a limit to rascality. The law is settled that you cannot build something on nothing, and as such, it is utter lawlessness on the part of the Osun APC, to try and import what is not in a judgement into it. If the Court of Appeal intended to reinstate the sacked YES or NO officials, it would make this pronouncement as a consequential order in the judgement of February 10, 2025, not leave it for the Osun APC to subject to their whims and caprices.
In legal interpretations, importing what a judge didn’t explicitly state in a judgement is generally frowned upon and not legally allowed. The word ‘reinstatement’ was the invention of the Osun APC as the judgement of the Court of Appeal it is relying upon did not make any such order. By the law, that interpreting a judgement should be based on what was explicitly stated in the judgement and not on implied intentions or assumptions, which is apparently what the Osun APC has done.
This was the home truth that the CBN conveyed in its letter but typical of a party averse to the rule of law, the Osun APC is pushing back with a ludicrous accusation. CBN, as the country’s banker, is not an object of political tools as the Osun APC has treated many federal institutions in its backdoor power grab agenda, because doing so will send a bad signal to the outside world and hurt the country significantly. I’m not sure the insatiable lust for power of a few political opportunists in Osun state is worth the risk of a negative exposure for the country’s apex bank international due to political interference.
It’s a complete ignorance of the law for the Osun APC to assume that ‘allowing its appeal’ based on technical ground and not the merit of the matter, automatically translate to ‘reinstatement order’. This is so when there is no part of the judgement that indicated such order as a consequence to the decision to allow the appeal. The Supreme Court in LIMAN v MOHAMMED (1999)9 NWLR (prt 617) 116 held that consequential order is a necessary order flowing directly and naturally from and inevitably consequent from the judgement already given.”
In AWONIYI v AMORC (2000), the Supreme Court emphasised the importance of a consequential order when it held as per Karibe-Whyte JSC( as he was then) that “A consequential order is an order founded on the claim of the successful party. In other words, a consequential order is one which is not merely incidental to a decision properly made, but one which is merely to give effect to that decision.” In short, consequential order is a judicial directive that gives effects to a court’s judgement, making it enforceable.
Unfortunately for the Osun APC, there was no such order in the judgement it is relying on to justify its brazen disregard for the rule of law. The CBN, as an institution, can only act on an explicit order of the court, not the distorted view of a plain judgement that the Osun APC is in the habit of doing. From every readings of the judgement and the enrolment order, there was nowhere the sacked APC Chairmen were reinstated and so, it would be a crude abuse of the rule of law for the Osun APC to insist that its misreading of the judgement should take precedent over law and facts.
Beyond this, there still exist a valid judgement of the court sacking the YES or NO, which the Osun APC is fighting so hard to revive at the Court of Appeal as we speak. It is therefore the height of lawlessness for the Osun APC to continue to lay claim to the councils when every legal facts on the ground clearly showed it do not have such right. It meant only one thing– and that is the disgust that the Osun APC has for rule of law and democracy. But it must understand that impunity never last.
- Sarafa Ibrahim writes from Iwo, Osun state. He can be reached via neyoclass09@gmail.com
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