A Senior Advocate of Nigeria and principal partner, Falana and Falana’s chambers, Mrs. Funmi Falana on Monday faulted the Oyo state Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Barr. Abiodun Aikomo, for allegedly misrepresenting the judgment of the Appellate Court.
This was as the Oyo state NURTW Chairman, Alhaji Abideen Olajide, expressed the Union’s readiness to resume work any moment now.
In a letter addressed Aikomo, Barrister Falana insisted alleged misrepresentation of the appellate court’s judgment.
Barrister Falana pointed out that the court judgment that the state government neither has power to proscribe nor suspend the activities of the NURTW was explicit and without any ambiguity.
The counsel warned the state against acts of contempt and deliberate disobedience of a subsisting judgment of the Court of Appeal, which set aside the suspension of the union’s activities in motor parks and garages across the state.
In the letter copied to the Oyo State Commissioner of Police and the State Director of the Department of State Services (DSS), Barrister Falana accused the Oyo state government of substituting its own views for the express and binding pronouncements of the Court of Appeal and that any further refusal to comply with the judgment could lead to contempt proceedings against the Attorney-General and possible disciplinary action before the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee.
Barrister Falana noted that the Court of Appeal’s judgment in Suit No: CA/IB/263/2022 – National Union of Road Transport Workers v. Governor of Oyo State & 3 Ors., delivered earlier this year, expressly nullified the suspension imposed by Governor Seyi Makinde on the activities of the NURTW in the state, including the collection of check-off dues at motor parks and garages.
“It is unfortunate that you have substituted your views for the judgment of the Court of Appeal without any legal basis. In other words, the Court of Appeal never held that NURTW remains suspended from collecting dues from motor parks and garages in the state.
“In view of the clear and unambiguous judgment of the Court of Appeal, you will agree with us that the purported suspension of the activities of the NURTW by Governor Seyi Makinde, including the collection of check-off dues in the parks and garages, has been set aside by the Court.”
Barrister Falana reminded the Attorney-General of the constitutional duty to uphold and enforce appellate court decisions pursuant to Section 287(2) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), which provides that “the decision of the Court of Appeal shall be enforced in any part of the federation by all authorities and persons, and by courts with subordinate jurisdiction to that of the Court of Appeal.”
While cautioning that failure to obey the appellate court’s ruling would attract serious legal consequences, Barrister Falana said ” If you are not prepared to comply with the judgment of the Court of Appeal, we shall not hesitate to initiate contempt proceedings against you and report you to the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee for encouraging your clients to treat the judgment of the Court of Appeal with provocative contempt.”
