Nigeria’s Supreme Court has set aside a judgment of the Court of Appeal that transferred a suit involving the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) from the Lagos State High Court to the Federal High Court, ruling that the proper order should have been to strike out the case for lack of jurisdiction.
In a unanimous judgment delivered by Justice Moore Adumein, a five-member panel of the apex court held that a state high court lacks the authority to transfer a matter to the Federal High Court where it has no jurisdiction to entertain the suit. The certified true copy of the judgment, delivered on April 17, was sighted in Abuja on Friday.
The appeal arose from a decision of the Lagos Division of the Court of Appeal, which had ordered the transfer of a suit filed by Integrated Oil and Gas Ltd and its chairman, former Interior Minister Cap. Emmanuel Ihenacho (rtd.), against NIMASA and three others to the Federal High Court for accelerated hearing.
The appellate court had ruled that the Lagos State High Court lacked jurisdiction over the matter but invoked Section 15 of the Court of Appeal Act to order the transfer.
Dissatisfied with the ruling, NIMASA approached the Supreme Court, arguing that the appellate court wrongly relied on Section 15 of the Act.
In its appellant’s brief filed by Chief Emeka Ngige, SAN, the agency argued that while the Federal High Court could transfer matters to state high courts under Section 22(2) of the Federal High Court Act, there was no corresponding provision empowering a state high court to transfer cases to the Federal High Court.
Counsel to the respondents, Emmanuel Ekpenyong of Fred-Young & Evans LP, urged the apex court to dismiss the appeal, arguing that the Court of Appeal validly exercised its powers to ensure the matter was determined on its merits.
But the Supreme Court disagreed.“It should be noted that the general principle of law is that where a court lacks jurisdiction to entertain a cause or matter, the appropriate or proper order to make is to strike it out,” the court held.
The apex court further ruled that while the Federal High Court possesses statutory powers to transfer cases to state high courts, “the High Court of a state, like the High Court of Lagos State, cannot transfer a cause or matter to the Federal High Court, where it has no jurisdiction to entertain it.”
The original suit, marked LD/ADR/91/2013, was filed by Integrated Oil and Gas Ltd and Ihenacho against NIMASA, former NIMASA Director-General Ziakede Patrick Akpobolokemi, Barrister Callistus Nwabueze Obi and Hajia Lami Tumaka.The claimants sought N90 billion and N349 million in damages over allegations linking the company and the former minister to oil theft and illegal oil dealings.
They also sought a court order compelling the defendants to publish retractions and apologies on NIMASA’s website and in several Nigerian newspapers.
NIMASA had challenged the competence of the suit before the Lagos State High Court, arguing that the court lacked jurisdiction and that a related matter was already pending before the Federal High Court in Lagos.
Although the trial court dismissed the objection, the Court of Appeal later allowed NIMASA’s appeal and ordered the transfer of the suit to the Federal High Court.The Supreme Court has now nullified that transfer order and held that the suit ought to have been struck out instead.