Osagie & Ors V. Enoghama & Ors (2022)

LAWGLOBAL HUB Lead Judgment Report – SUPREME COURT

EMMANUEL AKOMAYE AGIM, J.S.C. (Delivering the Lead Judgment)

On 5-8-2022, the appellants herein commenced this Appeal No. SC/CV/980/2022 by filing a notice of appeal against the judgment of the Court of Appeal delivered on 25-7-2022 in Appeal No. CA/ABJ/CV/594/2022 setting aside the judgment of the Federal High Court delivered on 26-5-2032 in Abuja in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/598/2022, after holding that the subject matter of that suit concerning the question of which persons were elected ward ad hoc delegates on 30-4-2022 in the 192 wards of Edo State and which of the two ward congresses held in the said wards on that day is the authentic and valid one, is an intraparty dispute concerning its internal domestic affairs which the trial Court should not have entertained and determined, as it had no jurisdiction to do so.

The trial Court in its said judgment found that the Ward Congresses conducted by the 1st respondent’s Edo State Working Committee and that elected the appellants herein as ad hoc delegates is the authentic and valid ward congress and not the Ward congress conducted by the 1st respondent’s National Working Committee (NWC) instituted Ward Congress Electoral Committee for Edo State that elected the 5th to 8th respondents and others as ad hoc delegates.

On the basis of this finding, it granted the claim of the appellants.

The parties herein have filed, exchanged and adopted their respective briefs as follows- Appellants’ brief, 1st to 4th respondents’ brief, 5th to 8th respondent’s brief and 9th respondent’s brief. At the hearing of this appeal, the 9th respondent’s brief was withdrawn and struck out.

The appellant’s brief raised two issues for determination as follows-

1. “Whether the Court below was right to hold that the cause of action in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/598/2022 that gave rise to this appeal is the same as the Cause of Action in Suit No. B/408/2022 as a result declined jurisdiction to consider the competence of this matter on its merit? (Ground 1, 2, and 4).
2. Whether the Court bbelow was right to hold that the subject matter of Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/598/2022, which gave rise to this appeal, an internal or domestic affairs of the political party (PDP) and that the trial Court has no jurisdiction over the matter? (Grounds 3 and 5)”

​The 1st to 4th respondent’s brief raised two issues for determination as follows –

1. Whether in the circumstances of this case, the Court of Appeal was correct to hold that the trial Court lacked the jurisdiction to adjudicate on the appellant’s originating summons. Grounds 1, 3 and 5.
2. Whether the Court of Appeal was correct to hold that the decision of Benin Division in CA/B/106/2022: HON. MONDAY IYORE OSAGIE & ORS V VICTOR ENOGHAMA & ORS on the legal status of the same delegates election held in Edo State on 30th April, 2022 was binding. Grounds 2 and 4.

The 5th to 8th respondent’s brief raised one issue for determination as follows- Whether the Court below was in error to hold that the congress of the 5th respondent to elect ad hoc delegates, which was conducted on the 30th April 2022 is not justiciable having been adjudged to be an internal affair of political party over which the trial Court had no jurisdiction. Grounds 1-5.

I will determine this appeal on the basis of the issues raised for determination in the appellant’s brief.

I will deal with the issues together.

​I have carefully read and considered the arguments in the respective briefs on these issues.

The case of the appellants in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/598/2022 commenced by them at the Federal High Court at Abuja on 4-5-2022 is that they were the 576 persons elected as ad hoc delegates of the 1st respondent from the 192 wards of Edo State on 30-4-2022 in the ward congresses held in each of the 192 wards of Edo State in accordance with the Constitution and Electoral Guidelines of the 1st respondent, that as such elected ad hoc delegates they are exclusively entitled to nominate or elect the 1st respondent’s candidates for the general elections of Governor of Edo State, Senators, members of House of Representatives, members of House of Assembly and National delegates to national convention to elect the party’s presidential candidate, that they are aware that the 1st to 4th respondents plan to present as ad hoc delegates the 5th to 8th respondents and other persons who were never elected as such delegates at any ward congress of the party, but who were arbitrarily appointed by the 2nd to 4th respondents, that they fear that they would not be allowed to vote as ad hoc delegates in the various primary elections of the 1st respondent coming up in May 2022, that their several written complaints to the 1st to 4th respondents were not answered, that the 9th respondent herein monitored and observed the Ward Congresses of 30-4-2022 in the 192 Wards of Edo State that elected the appellants as ad hoc delegates, that the issued result of the ward congresses is exhibit A10 accompanying the affidavit in support of the originating summons and that the ward congresses were conducted by the 1st to 4th respondents herein in accordance with the 1st respondent’s Constitution and Guidelines for Primary Elections dated 13-3-2022.

​One of the several written complaints made by the appellants on 30-4-2022, from the Edo State Secretariat of the 1st respondent to the National Working Committee members of the 1st respondent reads thusly: -“COMPLAINT OF THE DELIBERATE REFUSAL OF THE STATE WARD CONGRESS COMMITTEE TO COLLECT THE RESULTS OF THE 3 AD HOC DELEGATES ELECTION EDO STATE, AN APPEAL FOR TIMELY INTERVENTION.

The National Working Committee of the party scheduled the ward congress for the election of 3 ad hoc delegates for the primary elections in Edo State on the 30th of April, 2022.