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APPELLATE COURT WILL ORDINARILY NOT INTERFERE WITH THE DISCRETION OF THE TRIAL COURT

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Dictum

Where the trial Judge in his Judgment thinks it is proper to exercise his discretion in a particular way, an Appellate Court would ordinarily not interfere with the exercise of such discretion unless it is established that the discretion was exercised in total disregard to the materials before the Court. A judicial and judicious exercise of discretion by a trial Court cannot to be set aside by the Appellate Court, but where the Lower Court acted under a misconception of the law or under a misapprehension of facts or where such exercise of discretion occasioned a miscarriage of justice against the Appellant, the appellate Court will readily intervene to redress the wrong, an Appellate Court will however not interfere with the decision of the trial Court merely because it would have exercised such discretion differently.

— T. Abubakar JCA. Olukoya Ogungbeje Esq. v. EFCC (CA/L/1408/2017, 18 Jul 2018)

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DISCRETIONARY POWERS JUDICIALLY EXERCISED

Discretionary powers judicially and judiciously exercised cannot be interfered with. One must let the decision of the lower court be. – M.D. Muhammad, J.C.A. Shona-Jason v Omega Air (2005) – CA/L/418/2000

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WHERE A PARTY HAS SEVERAL OPTIONS, HE COULD USE ANYONE HE WANTS

It is now trite law that where a party is by law given the option or discretion to exercise his right in different ways it is not for an opponent to prescribe the particular form the other party should utilize and where the form adopted by the other party is not what the opponent feels is the right course, then automatically an abuse of court process would be said to have taken place. There were options open to the respondent to tackle the scenario before him and he cannot be confined to the only choice of a counter claim to the appellant’s counter claim to ventilate his own grouse or grievance even though at the base is the same contract or facts since he had the alternative of bringing a fresh action so that all that he needs say would be brought to the fore. He had that right and he was at liberty to take it and did so. I have therefore no difficulty in flowing along with what the court of Appeal did as I see no error in their decision in upholding that the fresh action filed by the respondent was in order and the integrity of the court was not jeopardized. I refer to the case of Saraki v. Kotoye (1992) 9 NWLR (Pt. 264) 156 at 170.

— M. Peter-Odili JSC. R-Benkay Nigeria Limited. V. Cadbury Nigeria Limited (SC.29/2006, 23 Mar 2012)

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TRIAL JUDGE DISCRETION FOR LOCUS IN QUO; LOCUS IN QUO

It is clearly at the discretion of the trial Judge to determine whether in the light of the evidence before him, there is need to resolve, by a visit to the locus in quo, the conflict of evidence or clear a doubt as to the accuracy of a piece of evidence when there is such conflict of evidence.

– Nweze JSC. Abdullahi v. Adetutu (2019)

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COURTS WILL NOT BE SILENT EVEN WHERE THERE IS DISCRETION ON EXECUTIVE

The decision of the House of Lords in Attorney-General v. De Keyser’s Royal Hotel Limited (1920) A.C. 508 – dealing with the issue of payment of compensation by the Crown to a subject in respect of property requisitioned for the prosecution of the war – established the principle that in the protection of the property of the subject, the Crown was liable to pay compensation to the subject for the acquisition of the property, the exigencies of the war notwithstanding. Even amidst the clash of arms, they said, the courts would not be silent.

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APPELLATE COURT INTERFERENCE WITH TRIAL COURTS DISCRETION

It needs to be emphasised here that an appellate Court will usually not interfere with an exercise of discretion in its quest to obtain substantial justice except where it is satisfied that the discretion was exercised arbitrarily or illegally or without due regard to all necessary consideration having regard to the circumstances of the particular case. – Nweze JSC. Abdullahi v. Adetutu (2019)

Even then, it is well – established that an appellate Court will not, in principle, interfere with the exercise of discretion by the trial Court unless that discretion is shown to have been exercised upon wrong principles or that the exercise was tainted with some illegality or substantial irregularity. – Nweze JSC. Abdullahi v. Adetutu (2019)

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WHERE APPEAL COURT WILL NOT SET ASIDE DISCRETION OF LOWER COURT

A court of appeal will not set aside a discretion exercised by the Court below if it is judicially exercised i.e. it is not arbitrary, or based on extraneous or irrelevant materials.

– Nnamani, JSC. Adejumo v. Ayantegbe (1989)

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