The Court of Appeal of Nigeria sitting in Abuja has affirmed a November 14 judgment delivered by Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court, which restrained the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from proceeding with its November 15–16 national convention in Ibadan without allowing former Jigawa State governor, Sule Lamido, to participate as a chairmanship candidate.
In a unanimous judgment, a three-member panel of the appellate court held that the PDP’s decision to conduct the convention despite the subsisting Federal High Court order amounted to contempt and demonstrated disrespect for the court.
The panel noted that it was undisputed that the party went ahead with the convention even though there was a valid court order directing it to allow Lamido to take part in the exercise.
The court also rejected the PDP’s argument that it acted in compliance with a judgment from another court of coordinate jurisdiction. It stressed that no party in a legal dispute has the right to choose which court order to obey or ignore.
According to the court, the party ought to have applied for a stay of execution of the judgment or filed an appeal against the order before proceeding with the convention.
Condemning what it described as the party’s contemptuous conduct, the appellate court held that the trial court was right to assume jurisdiction over Lamido’s case and to grant the reliefs he sought.
The court subsequently dismissed the PDP’s appeal for lacking merit and awarded N2 million in costs against the party.
