Justice Oludotun Adefope-Okojie, in a
ruling on Aribisala’s application for a mandatory injunction to restore
his SAN title, said rather than reversing the suspension, she would
prefer to decide the matter on its merit.
She, therefore, ordered an accelerated hearing of the case.
The Legal Practitioners Privileges
Committee, which on February 26, 2013, suspended Aribisala from using
the title based on a petition by Fidelity Bank Plc, had refused to
participate in the hearing of the application.
The committee neither filed any defence
in the substantive suit nor was it represented by a lawyer since the
substantive suit was filed.
The judge, earlier in her ruling,
dismissed the preliminary objection filed against Aribisala’s suit by
Fidelity Bank, which was joined as the first respondent in the suit. Adefope-Okojie said, after affirming the
court’s jurisdiction to entertain the suit, “It is my opinion that the
wisdom in this suit is for me to grant its accelerated hearing. I
therefore refuse the reliefs of the claimant and order an accelerated
hearing.”
Aribisala had, through his application,
argued that the decision to suspend him from using the SAN rank by the
LPPC was taken while his suit seeking to restrain the committee from
acting on Fidelity Bank’s petition was pending. However, while the LPPC shunned the
suit, which was filed on October 19, 2012, Fidelity Bank, through its
counsel, Seyi Sowemimo (SAN), filed a preliminary objection contending
that the court lacked the jurisdiction to entertain the suit.
But Adefope-Okojie disagreed with
Sowemimo’s argument and held that a mere listing of an item on the
Exclusive Legislative List was not sufficient reason to determine that a
state High Court lacked jurisdiction to entertain disputes arising from
it.
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