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COURT BASES HER DECISION ON FACTS ONLY

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Dictum

The tribunal or court must base its conclusion on the facts before it and nothing but the facts. The tribunal or court cannot introduce facts not before it. The tribunal or court must confine itself to the facts before it. It has no jurisdiction to read into the Record facts not presented by the parties. It cannot also read out of the record facts presented by the parties. It seems I am repeating myself. Repetition is, at times, useful for emphasis and so be it.

— Niki Tobi, JSC. Buhari v. INEC (2008) – SC 51/2008

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CORRECTNESS OF DECISION IS THE FOCUS, NOT THE REASONS

Even though the learned trial Judge seemed to have rejected the respondent’s defence of acquiescence, I cannot ignore it. The lower court and this court need not agree on the reasons for arriving at the same conclusion. The focus of an appellate court is the correctness of the decision of the lower court and not the reasons given for it.

– Ogunwumiju JCA. Awure v. Iledu (2007)

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DECISION OF COURT WHICH APPEARS SUBSTANTIALLY REGULAR IS PRESUMED TO BE CORRECT

The duty of every appellant is to show and or establish that the decision he has appealed was wrong or unreasonable. Every decision of a Court of law, a judicial act, done in a manner substantially regular is presumed to be correct and that formal requisites for its validity were complied with. The presumption of regularity under Section 167(1) of the Evidence Act, 2011 is all about this.

— E. Eko, JSC. Kassim v. State (2017) – SC.361/2015

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CONFLICT BETWEEN SUPREME COURT DECISION AND THAT OF COURT OF APPEAL, SUPREME COURT WILL PREVAIL

Under the rules of precedent or stare decisis it is the judgment of the Supreme Court as the final appellate court that should be binding on the Court of Appeal. Thus where there is a conflict between the Supreme Court’s decision and that of the Court of Appeal, the Supreme Court’s decision should prevail and be binding on the Court of Appeal or any other court, notwithstanding any error in the former.

— Adeyemo v. Ida & Ors. (1998) – CA/1/6/92

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DECISION OF COURT REMAINS VALID

A decision of a court (whether wrong or right) remains valid and subsisting until set aside by a court that has the jurisdiction to do so. – E.A. Agim, JCA. Ogidi v. Okoli [2014] – CA/AK/130/2012

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WHEN IS A DECISION PERVERSE

A decision is perverse where, for example, it has been shown that the trial court (or the court below) took into account matters which it ought not to have taken into account or where the decision has occasioned a miscarriage of justice.

— Kekere-Ekun JSC. Uzodinma v. Ihedioha (2020)

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FINAL VS INTERLOCUTORY DECISIONS: DISTINCTION

In Clement C. Ebokam vs. Ekwenibe & Sons Trading Company Ltd. (1999) 7 SCNJ 77, Kalgo, JSC held at page 87 that: “…Where the decisions of the Court under consideration clearly and wholly disposes of all the rights of the parties in the case, that decision is final. But where the decision only disposes of an issue or issues in the case, leaving the parties to go back to claim other rights in the Court, then that decision is interlocutory. And in order to determine whether the decision is final or interlocutory, the decision must relate to the subject matter in dispute between the parties and not the function of the Court making the order.”

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