Bennett Oghifo
The Federal High Court in Awka, Anambra State, has set aside its sack order on the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Usman Alkali Baba.
The court upheld the right of Alkali to fair hearing as enshrined in Section 36 of the 1999 Constitution which was not guaranteed by the plaintiff in his application.
It said it was convinced by the depositions of the court bailiff that the IGP was not served the originating summons.
Justice Fatun Riman reversed the court’s earlier judgement following an application by IGP’s counsel, Abdullahi Abdulhakeem Ago, against a previous ruling in favour of a plaintiff, Okechukwu Nwafor
The court had on May 19, 2023 declared that Baba is an illegal occupant of the office of IGP.
Justice Riman, who gave the order, insisted that Baba’s continued stay in office was against the clear provisions of the Police Act, 2020, saying it is “unlawful and unconstitutional”.
The court made the order in its judgement in a suit marked FHC/AKW/CS/58/2023, filed by Okechukwu Nwafor, who claimed to be a taxpayer.
But IGP asked the court to set aside the judgement because the subject matter had been determined by another Federal High Court under Justice J.K. Omotosho in suit FHC/ABJ/CS/31/2023.
The police chief also alleged that the court should quash its judgement due to non-service of the originating processes on him.
The court upheld the arguments of the Inspector General of Police in a 17-page ruling on June 15, 2023.
According to the judgement made available to THISDAY, Justice Riman said a court can reverse its judgement where there was a fundamental error.
The judge said: “The law is settled that any court of record including the Supreme Court has the inherent jurisdiction to set aside its own judgment given in any proceeding in which there must have been a fundamental defect such as one which goes to the issue of jurisdiction and competence of the court
“Such a judgement is a nullity. A person affected by it, is therefore, entitled ex-debito justitiae to have it set aside. The court can set it aside suo motu and the person affected may apply by motion and not necessarily by way of appeal.
“A judgement or order which is a nullity owing to failure to comply with an essential provision such as service of process can be set aside by the court which gave it or made the order.
“The law is trite that the necessity for the requirement of service of originating processes, whether personal or by substituted means to bring to the notice of the defendant in action knowledge of the pending of a suit against him to enable such defendant prepare himself and defend the action appropriately
“I find merit in this application. Accordingly, the judgement of this court delivered on 19th day of May 2023 is hereby set aside for non- service of the originating processes on the 2nd Defendant (the Inspector-General of Police). This is the ruling of this court.”
