10th April, 2014
Stephen Oni/Ilorin
The Appeal Court sitting in Ilorin, the Kwara state capital, on Thursday put on hold all proceedings and applications before it over the Olofa of Offa stool.
The appellate court had in July 2013 declared the selection and installation of the Anilelerin ruling house candidate, Alhaji Mohammed Mufutau Gbadamosi, as the Olofa of Offa as illegal.
Olugbense and Anilelerin are the two ruling houses in the ancient town.
But the monarch immediately appealed the judgment at the Supreme Court and filed a motion at the Appeal Court for a stay of execution and injunction order pending the outcome of the apex court judgment.
The Olugbense ruling house opposed the application and petitioned initially to the Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, expressing lack of confidence in the old panel. This warranted the setting up of the new panel of justices headed by A.G. Mshelia. Others include Justices A. Jauro and R.N. Pemu.
During the first sitting of the new panel of justices on Tuesday this week, Lead Counsel to the Olugbense ruling house, John Bayeshea represented by Toyin Oladipo, informed the court that they had filed a notice of “pendency of motion before the Supreme Court.”
He said: “The motion is essentially for stay of all the proceedings in the Court of Appeal here and removal of all pending applications from the Appeal Court here to the Supreme Court.”
The notice is titled: “Notice of pendency of an application before the Supreme Court.”
But Mallam Yusuf Ali, SAN, and Chief Lawal Rabana, SAN, lead counsel to the king makers and Alhaji Mufutau Gbadamosi had informed the court of their preliminary objection to the notice, citing Order 7 Rule one of the Appeal Court.
In a unanimous judgment prepared by Justice Jauro and presented by Justice Pemu, he said the applicants’ “pendency of motion before the Supreme Court” is not an application necessitating compliance with Order 7 Rule one of the Appeal Court.
She said: “This court is a court of law and equity. This court hereby puts on hold all applications and proceedings before it pending the determination of all applications before the Supreme Court.”