The Court of Appeal, Lagos Division, on Thursday ordered a retrial of a suit on the ownership of Daily Times of Nigeria (DTN) by another judge of the Federal High Court, Ikoyi.
The Nation reports that in a judgment delivered by presiding Justice Amina Augie, the appellate court faulted an earlier judgment delivered by Justice Okechukwu Okeke of the Federal High Court, which led to the appeal.
Folio Communications Limited and four others had challenged Justice Okeke’s nullification of their acquisition of majority shares of Daily Times.
The judge had held that Folio Communications, owned by Fidelis Anosike, did not pay for the newspaper’s majority shares and that it was unlawful for the company to still parade itself as a shareholder.
The judge declared the acquisition null, void and of no effect. He returned the shares acquired by Folio Communications to Daily Times.
But Justice Augie faulted Justice Okeke’s verdict for not considering the issue of locus standi, which the appellants sought to raise during the hearing.
She said the lower court should have considered whether or not to grant the appellants leave to raise the issue.
According to her, the fact that a High Court is very busy with a lot of suits does not mean a judge should overlook legitimate prayers of a litigant in the interest of justice.
“The lower court did not even consider it at all. That prayer became a stumbling block that the lower court should have climbed upon and resolved,” Justice Augie said.
The judge averred that the nature of the appeal meant it could neither be upheld nor dismissed. She said it had to be struck out.
“The matter has to go back to the High Court before another judge. There shall be no order as to cost. When you don’t have jurisdiction, you cannot dismiss or allow an appeal. Therefore, the appeal is struck out.
“Everything will have to be sent back to the High Court for trial de-novo (fresh trial) before another judge,” she held.
