The position of the law is that a person who was not a party to a suit at the trial court can appeal to the court of appeal as an interested party but to do that he must seek the leave of the court and such leave cannot be subsumed into a trinity prayer because the leave is a condition precedent and failure to obtain it renders the court incompetent to assume jurisdiction and the trial court is the most appropriate court from where the leave should be seek first. This position of law was reiterated by the Supreme Court in the case of F.A.A.N V. Bi Courtney Ltd. (2025) 7 NWLR (pt. 1989) 365. The brief narration of the fact of the case and what led to the above pronouncements by the Apex Court is that The Federal Government of Nigeria granted a concession to Bi Courtney Limited(1st respondent) for the redevelopment of the fire-razed Murtala Mohammed Airport Domestic Terminal 2 (MMA2) in Ikeja, Lagos, under a Build, Operate, and Transfer (BOT) arrangement. The concession ...
If there are two conflicting laws applicable to a circumstance, situation or fact, it bears the question of which of these two conflicting laws shall be considered and applied. One cannot just take any one based on speculative mind since the law has to be certain. In this vain, this piece brings to you a thorough research of the subject matter with adequate authorities. The maxim “ Leges posteriores priores contrarias abrogant ” is translated as “ [s]ubsequent laws repeal prior conflicting ones” — See Black's Law Dictionary (8th ed. 2004), Page 5327. To put differently, later laws abrogate earlier contrary ones. It is a principle which states that, where two laws or legal instruments conflict, the one adopted later in time, rather than the one adopted earlier, is considered binding on the relevant parties. That is, when two statutes conflict, the one enacted last prevails. The provisions of a later document are contrary to those of an earlier, the earliest must ...
The case involves an appeal against the judgment of the Court of Appeal, Owerri Division delivered on 29th November, 2018, which overturned the decision of the trial Court that had upheld a No Case Submission made by the Appellant at trial. The Supreme Court in a unanimous decision dismissed the appeal. This was held in the case of Ubazi v. F.R.N. (2025) 10 NWLR (Pt. 1995) 89 where the court stated that: It is trite position of the law that the purport of a preliminary objection is to terminate or truncate the appeal in limine. It should only be filed against the hearing of an appeal and not against one or more grounds of appeal when there are other grounds that can sustain the appeal. In such a situation, a preliminary objection is not the appropriate procedure to deploy against defective grounds of appeal when there are other grounds not defective, which can sustain the hearing of the appeal. A brief narration of what transpired in the case is that: The appellant wa...
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