The Supreme Court has ruled in favour of Guaranty Trust Bank after it reversed its earlier decision which dismissed an appeal by GTB against a N2.4bn judgment given in favour of Innoson Motors Nigeria Limited by the Court of Appeal in Ibadan, Oyo State.
A senior official of GTB, who confirmed this to The PUNCH on Sunday, said, “Yes, the Supreme court ruled in favour of GTbank on Friday.”
A judgment delivered on Friday by a five-member panel, led by Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, held unanimously that the Supreme Court erred when, in a ruling on February 27, 2019, it erroneously dismissed the appeal marked: SC/694/2014 filed by GTB.
In the lead judgment, written by Justice Tijani Abubakar, but read on Friday by Justice Abdu Aboki, the court held that it was misled by its Registry, which failed to promptly bring to the notice of the panel that it sat on the case on February 27, 2019, and that GTB had already filed its appellant’s brief of argument.
The judgment was on an application by GTB seeking the re-listing of the appeal on the grounds that it was wrongly dismissed.
The Supreme Court said the panel that sat on the case on February 27, 2019, being notified of the existence of the appellant’s brief of argument, would not have given the ruling which dismissed GTB’s appeal on grounds of lack of diligent prosecution.
Relying on Order 8 Rules 16 of the Supreme Court’s Rules, Justice Abubakar, in the lead judgment, held that the apex court has the power to set aside its decision in certain circumstances, like any other court.
He added that such circumstances include where there is any reason to do so, such as where any of the parties obtained judgment by fraud, default or deceit; where such a decision is a nullity or where it is obvious that the court was misled into giving a decision.
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