The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed two Interlocutory appeals brought before it by an aggrieved Peoples Democratic Party governorship aspirant in Ogun State, Chief Jimi Lawal.
Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun did this following their dramatic withdrawal by the appellant’s counsel, Chukwudi Enebeli.
Lawal and another chieftain of the PDP in Ogun State, Oladipupo Adebutu, are locked in fierce legal battle on who should fly the flag of the party in the coming governorship election.
The odds have, however, favoured Adebutu’s candidacy following the dismissal of Lawal’s suit at the High Court and Court of Appeal.
In the instant matter, Lawal had filed the two appeals challenging the use of Court Record transmitted by another party and the procedural policy in accepting and using the disputed record.
At the proceeding, a five-member panel of Justices of the Apex Court subjected the appellant’s counsel to questioning on the desirability of pursuing Interlocutory appeals at the expense of the substantive matter.
Kekere-Ekun informed the counsel that the court has no luxury of time to expend on Interlocutory appeals before coming to the substantive matter.
She further drew the attention of the lawyer to the fact that the appellant’s appeal is time bound and must be tackled at the substantive level instead of dissipating energies on the interlocutory ones.
Enebeli, who claimed to have got and understood the hint of the Justices, subsequently applied for withdrawal of the appeals.
The apex court directed the counsel to go and proceed with how to get the substantive matter brought before the court within time allowed by law.