*Appeals to Falana to persuade ASUU to resume work
The Appeal Court today, presided over by Justice Akawu Barka, in his ruling, cleared the air on how a court order can be disobeyed without running foul of the law. He listed conditions whereby a party to a dispute may not be liable for contempt of court. First, if a respondent is seeking a stay of execution and if the jurisdiction is being challenged.
This came to light because the Academic Staff Union of Universities and the Federal Government of Nigeria have been at daggers drawn for the past eight months. To resolve the matter, the federal Government made a beeline to the Industrial Court which ruled that ASUU must call off its strike. Then ASUU, through its lawyer, Femi Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, approached the Court of Appeal on the ruling. Meanwhile, not a few Nigerians were apprehensive that ASUU might be guilty of contempt.
In its ruling today, Justice Barka wrote (see the last three pages of the attached documents) that the court permits “an exception where the order disobeyed was made without jurisdiction or where the party in disobedience is challenging the validity of the order.”
However, the Appeal Court begs Falana to talk to his clients, the university lecturers. According to Justice Barka: “I have known Mr Falana, SAN, for a long time as an advocate of the rule of law and obedience to lawful orders made by the courts of the land. He has championed that cause in numerous cases. I challenge him to aid the obedience lawful court orders made.”
Below are the pages of the ruling:
