Again, Uduaghan floors Ogboru at Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Friday in a unanimous decision again upheld the victory of Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State in the last general election.

This was as the apex court dismissed an application by the Democratic Peoples Party’s (DPP) standard bearer in the state, Great Ogboru, seeking to compel the court to set aside its earlier judgment which upheld the election of Uduaghan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

In a judgment written by Justice Clara Ogunbiyi but delivered  by Justice Suleiman Galadima, the court held that the application to set aside its earlier judgment was an abuse of court.
It consequently ordered Ogboru to pay Uduaghan N50,000 as cost for filing the application.
The court noted that a similar application was filed and withdrawn by Ogboru’s first counsel, Sebastine Hon (SAN).

It further held that the allegation that Hon withdrew the application without the authority of Ogboru was not substantiated.
Justice Ogunbiyi upheld the arguments of counsel to Uduaghan, Chief Wole Olanipekun, (SAN) to the effect that a counsel had unfettered authority to conduct his client’s case.

Olanipekun had argued that when briefed, a lawyer had full control of his client’s case and could  compromise the case or agree to a judgment and that the only choice the client had was to withdraw the instruction given to the lawyer. She further held that there must be an end to litigation.


The Supreme Court adopted this reasoning and held that Ogboru did not prove that Hon acted without authority when he withdrew the initial application to set aside the judgment. The court also held that Hon had withdrawn the application and the plaintiff was bound by the withdrawal and that to file a similar application was an abuse of the process of court.



In the circumstance, the court did not delve into the merit of the application.
Justice Ogunbiyi, however, frowned on the allegation by Ogboru’s later counsel, Dr Dickson Osuala, that Hon compromised himself in the manner in which he withdrew the application.
She held  that it was unfair to allege that Hon compromised  himself.
She warned lawyers not to allow their clients to use them to disparage the legal profession and legal practitioners.
It is recalled that after the Supreme Court upheld the election of Uduaghan, Ogboru returned to the apex court with a fresh application asking that the judgment be set aside and a new panel be constituted to hear his appeal.
The application was filed by Hon, who later orally applied to withdraw the application. Consequent upon the withdrawal, the court struck out the application.
Shortly thereafter, Ogboru hired a new lawyer, Osuala, who filed a fresh application alleging that Hon was not authorised to withdraw the application.