PRESERVING THE SANCTITY OF THE SUPREME COURT

The Chief Registrar
Supreme Court of Nigeria
Three Arms Zone
Abuja
Dear Chief Registrar,
Re: SC/665/2015 MEGA PROGRESSIVE PEOPLE’S PARTY
-vs- INEC & OR; CTC OF JUDGMENT RECEIVED: MATTERS ARISING
Sequel to our application dated 16th Oct., 2015 to your Honourable office, for a certified true copy of SC Judgment in the above named appeal delivered by the Honourable Justice Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad, on 12th Oct., 2015, in re: NBA Stamps, we had on 28th Oct., 2015, received same with gratitude and circulated with humility to the open discussion internet forum, tagged “OurCountryNigeria” members of which are the NBA Presidents past and present, the NBA General Secretaries past and present, Senior Advocates of Nigeria, members of the Body of Benchers and other members of the NBA across the 36 States and Abuja and also members of the civil society and NGOs et al.
Herewith attached is the said CTC for ease of reference.
However, between 27th and 29th Oct., 2015, we read online reports that a judgment delivered on Tuesday 27th Oct., instant, in Appeal No. SC/722/2015 re: All Progressives Congress (APC) –vs- General Bello Sarkin Yaki, the Supreme Court per Honourable Justice Walter Samuel Nkanu Onnoghen, JSC, “upheld the 2nd Cross-Appellant’s Cross appeal against the decision of the Court of Appeal, Sokoto Division which summarily dismissed the 2nd Cross-Appellant’s preliminary objection which challenged the Appellants’ Notice of Appeal for failure to bear the stamp/seal of the legal practitioner who signed it.”
“In allowing the appeal, the Supreme Court upheld the sole issue formulated by the 2nd Cross-Appellant; ‘Whether the Court of Appeal was right to hold that failure of a legal document to have affixed to it a Stamp/Seal as mandated by rule 10(1) of the rules of professional conduct did not carry with it the consequence of rendering such legal document incompetent’.
By this decision the Court affirmed that if without complying with the mandatory provision of Rule 10 (1) Rules of Professional Conduct for Legal Practitioners 2007 which requires a lawyer acting in his capacity as a legal practitioner, legal officer or adviser of any Government department or ministry or any corporation, who signs or files a legal document to affix on any such document a seal and stamp approved by the Nigerian Bar Association, the document so signed or filed shall be deemed not to have been properly signed or filed.”
The court has therefore declared that the signing and or filing of a legal document by a lawyer will not be competent if the NBA is not affixed to it.
Mazi Afam Osigwe General Secretary, Nigerian Bar Association”
Source: http://www.elombah.com/…/1988-supreme-court-affirms-that-le…
No certified true copy of proceedings, if any, or ruling/judgment in SC/722/2015 was made available by the learned authors, to any member of the learned and honourable profession those who purportedly wrote that the Supreme Court had issued a contrary decision to the seasoned opinion expressed in SC/665/2015 Mega Progressive People’s Party vs- INEC & Ors.
With a view to preserving the sanctity of the apex and revered Court please.
Respectfully yours,
C.N AJIE & CO
C.N AJIE, LL.B(Hons); B.L(Lagos); MCIArb(UK); LL.M(Georgetown) LAWA Fellow; Vital Voices Lead Fellow, Washington D.C."