Senior lawyers in the country, yesterday, insisted that either rightly or wrongly, the orders made by courts in Nigeria must be obeyed in the first instance.
The lawyers made the declaration while responding to ques- tions on the ruling of the Federal High Court, presided over by Justice Mohammed Liman, which nullified the reinstatement of Sa- nusi Lamido Sanusi as the Emir of Kano.
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A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, Mba Ukweni, insisted that the Kano State governor was wrong to have reinstated Sanusi as the Kano monarch despite the existence of an earlier order stop- ping the same from taking place.
While stating that though the Federal High Court does not have jurisdiction over chieftaincy matters, the SAN insisted that once a verdict of the court has been given, it has to be obeyed and respected.
“No party is entitled to take the laws into its hands and treat the decision of the court with contempt or disdain,” Ukweni added.
Similarly, Olalekan Ojo, SAN, expressed unhappiness with an addition that, “There are two legal principles that are involved. “In one breath, the Federal High Court upheld the Kano State Emir- ates Law, and in another breath, the Federal High Court nullified the reinstatement of Sanusi as the Emir of Kano on the basis that there was an earlier order of the court directing that status quo should be maintained.
“If the Kano State government or any other statutory body did anything, took any action, took any step in violation of the order for the maintenance of the status quo as ordered by the Federal High Court, that act done in violation of an existing order of court is liable to be set aside or quashed or nullified.
“It is immaterial that the court that gave the order for the maintenance of status quo may subsequently be found not to have any jurisdiction over the matter, the basis of this is very simple, court orders must be obeyed by all parties against whom the order was made or by persons or authorities, that have due knowledge or notice of the order of the court.
“This is necessary to prevent anarchy in the society. “For me, I do not see anything wrong in what the Federal High Court did in nullifying what the Kano State government did in violation of the order for the maintenance of the status quo.”
(New Telegraph)
