Sani V. Kogi State House Of Assembly & Ors (2021)

LAWGLOBAL HUB Lead Judgment Report

ABDU ABOKI, J.S.C.

This appeal is against the decision of the of the Court of Appeal, holden at Abuja, delivered on the 28th of August, 2019, staying the execution of the Ruling of the trial High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

The facts leading to this appeal, can be summarized as follows:

The Appellant herein, instituted a suit at the High Court of Kogi State, Lokoja, against the Respondents, wherein judgment was delivered on the 29th of June 2017. The 1st Respondent herein, dissatisfied with the part of the judgment setting aside the suspension of the Appellant from the 1st Respondent (i.e, the Kogi State House of Assembly), appealed to the Court of Appeal, Abuja.

The Court of Appeal, upon hearing the appeal, delivered its judgment on the 20th of March, 2018, allowing the appeal and remitting the case back to the Chief Judge of Kogi State for re-assignment to another Judge to be heard by way of a Writ of Summons.

The Appellant, aggrieved by this decision of the Court of Appeal, Abuja, appealed to this Court vide its Notice of Appeal filed on the 22nd of March, 2018. This Court, upon hearing the appeal, allowed same in part, and held inter alia as follows:

1. The judgment of the Court below be and is hereby set aside
2. The judgment of the trial Court is hereby restored and affirmed
3. That the Respondents be and are hereby ordered to pay the Appellant all his pending salaries, allowances, emoluments and monies due to him and allowed to resume his legislative duties forthwith
4. The cost of this appeal is fixed at One Million Naira against each set of Respondents and in favour of the Appellant.

Consequent upon this decision of the Supreme Court, the Appellant herein, commenced garnishee proceedings at the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja against the Respondents seeking the following reliefs:

1. GARNISHEE ORDER NISI as in form 26 of the Sheriff and Civil Process Act; against the Garnishee herein, attaching the sum of N210,820,000.00 (Two Hundred and Ten Million, Eight Hundred and Twenty Thousand Naira only), due and accruing to the Judgment Debtor/Respondents in custody of the garnishees with particular reference to the accounts stated in the schedule
2. AN ORDER RESTRAINING/PROHIBITING garnishees from paying out or transferring monies due and accruing to the Judgment Debtors in their custody (in the accounts provided in the schedule below), pending when the Garnishees can show cause why they cannot be ordered to pay the said monies to the Judgment Creditor/Applicant
3. The sum of Ten Million Naira only being the cost of the garnishee proceedings
4. AND FOR SUCH ORDERS or further orders as this Honourable Court may deem fit to make in the circumstances of this case

The 1st Respondent filed a Notice of Preliminary Objection challenging the garnishee proceedings, inter alia that the judgment of this Honourable Court upon which the garnishee proceedings was predicated, did not contain any specific amount as to the Appellants pending salaries, allowances, emoluments and monies due to him, hence there was nothing in the Supreme Court judgment specifying that the Appellant be paid the sum of N210,820,000.00 (Two Hundred and Ten Million, Eight Hundred and Twenty Thousand Naira only).

The Trial Court delivered its Ruling on the 19th of June, 2019 and dismissed the 1st Respondent’s Preliminary Objection and proceeded to make the garnishee order nisi, absolute against the funds standing to the credit of the 7th Respondent, in the custody of the 14th Garnishee/Respondent, as per the Appellant’s reliefs.

Dissatisfied with the Ruling, the 1st Respondent appealed to the Court of Appeal, Abuja. The 1st Respondent also filed a Motion for stay of execution of the Trial Court’s Ruling, pending the determination of the appeal filed at the Court of Appeal. In further support of the application, the 1st Respondent filed a further and better affidavit. The Appellant in opposition to the application for stay of execution, filed a counter affidavit, in reaction to the 1st Respondent’s application. The other set of Respondents did not oppose the application.

Written addresses were ordered, filed and exchanged and in its Ruling delivered on the 28th of August, 2019, the 1st Respondent’s application was granted and the Court of Appeal ordered that the execution of the Trial Court’s Ruling be stayed, pending the determination of the 1st Respondent’s appeal.

​The Appellant, thoroughly dissatisfied with this order of stay of execution of the Trial Court’s Ruling, appealed to this Court. His Notice of Appeal, filed on the 9th of September, 2019, contains four grounds, as was listed at pages 718 – 727 of the Record.

The Appellant filed a Brief of Argument, on the 22nd of October, 2019, and raised the following issues for determination:

1. Whether the Court below has the jurisdiction to hear, determine and grant the motion for stay of execution of the garnishee order absolute made by the trial High Court which executed the judgment of the Supreme Court in the judgment it delivered on the 18th day of January, 2019 in Appeal No. SC.327/2018?
2. Whether the Court below was right to have held that the trial Court was silent on the objection or the issue raised by the 1st Respondent that the Supreme Court did not order for the payment of any specific amount to the judgment creditor and indeed whether the Court below was right to have ordered stay of execution of the garnishee order absolute on this ground?

The 1st Respondent filed its brief on the 5th of November, 2019 and distilled this lone issue to wit: