Suntrust Bank Nigeria Limited v. Eaton Acquisitions Limited (Suing For Itself And On Behalf Of Promoters Of Our Bank Limited (Information) & Ors (2024)

LAWGLOBAL HUB Lead Judgment Report – SUPREME COURT

MOORE ASEIMO ABRAHAM ADUMEIN, JSC (Delivering the leading judgment)

This is an appeal against a ruling delivered on 02/08/2022 by the Court of Appeal, Lagos Division, whereby a motion on notice filed by the appellant on 12/03/2021 was dismissed pursuant to a notice of its withdrawal filed on 22/03/2022.

The appellants notice of appeal contains the following sole ground:

The lower court erred in law in dismissing the appellants application filed on 12/3/2021, seeking the leave of the lower court to appeal as an interested party against the judgment of the Federal High Court, Lagos delivered on 17/2/2021 in suit No. FHC/L/CS/115/2021, when it was obvious that the lower court had lost its jurisdiction in respect of the said application.

Particulars of error

i. By the provisions of section 242 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), an appeal can only lie as of right from the court of first instance to the lower court within 3 months from the date of the ruling sought to be appealed against.

ii. At the time the appellant filed its application on 12/3/2021 for leave to appeal as an Interested Party, three months had not elapsed from the date of the judgment sought to be appealed against.

iii. The aforesaid application was not fixed for hearing by the lower court until 26/5/2022.

iv. As at 26/5/2022 when the appellants application was heard by the lower court, three months within which the application should have been heard had elapsed.

v. As at 26/5/2022, the lower court had lost its jurisdiction to entertain and/or grant the aforesaid application as constituted, the only proper order the lower court could have made was an order striking out the said application for being incompetent.

vi. The order of the lower court is perverse and has led to a great miscarriage of justice on the appellant.

In the appellants brief, settled by Abayomi Adeniran, Esq., a lone issue was formulated thus:

Whether the lower court was right to have dismissed the appellants application filed on 12th March, 2021, when it was obvious that the lower court had lost the requisite jurisdiction to grant the said application as constituted at the time it was withdrawn?

The 1st respondent filed a notice of preliminary seeking the following orders: