Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Jibrin Okutepa, has faulted the recent ruling of the Federal High Court in Lokoja that set aside its earlier judgment compelling the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to register the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), arguing that the trial judge failed to follow settled legal principles before nullifying the decision.
In a statement posted on his X account on Monday, Okutepa said he deliberately refrained from commenting on the matter until he had carefully studied the court’s ruling, adding that his review left him convinced that the judgment contained fundamental legal errors.
“I have resisted the urge to comment on the ruling of Hon. Mr. Justice Dashen of the Federal High Court sitting in Lokoja on the NDC matter until I read the judgment. Having read the judgment, I am just wondering why the learned trial judge agreed to set aside the judgment his lordship gave in December 2025 wherein INEC, the only defendant in that case, was ordered to register NDC as a political party,” he said.
The senior lawyer noted that the December 2025 judgment had already been complied with by INEC, which proceeded to register the NDC as a political party before the fresh application was filed by the Peace Movement Party (PMP)—an association that was not a party to the original suit.
According to him, the application filed on May 5, 2026, contained two prayers: one seeking an extension of time to apply to set aside the judgment and another asking the court to nullify the earlier decision.
Okutepa argued that while Justice Isah Dashen listed both prayers in his ruling, he failed to determine the request for an extension of time before proceeding to set aside the judgment.
“The learned trial judge in the ruling under review set out the two prayers in the motion, but his lordship did not consider at all prayer one that deals with extension of time to apply to have the judgment set aside. Why? Nobody can hazard a guess. But was his lordship right? I do not think so,” he stated.
Explaining his position, the SAN said Nigerian law is clear that anyone seeking to set aside a judgment delivered in their absence must first provide good and substantial reasons for failing to participate in the proceedings and then demonstrate that they have a credible defence on the merits.
He stressed that both conditions must be satisfied before a court can exercise its discretion.
“The principle of law is well established that where a person seeks extension of time within which to apply to set aside a judgment entered in his absence, the applicant must satisfy two conditions… These two conditions are conjunctive, not disjunctive,” he explained.
Okutepa cited several Supreme Court authorities, including Williams v. Hope Rising Voluntary Funds Society, Nalsa & Team Associates v. NNPC, Skenconsult (Nig.) Ltd. v. Ukey, ACB Plc v. Losada (Nig.) Ltd., and Macaulay v. NAL Merchant Bank Ltd., maintaining that the apex court has consistently held that applicants must explain their default and establish a defence on the merits before a regular judgment can be set aside.
He argued that the trial court failed to address what he described as the most critical issue in the application.
“In this ruling, his lordship left out the most fundamental judicial function and did not interrogate the reason for failure to apply to have the judgment set aside before INEC obeyed it,” he said.
Okutepa further questioned why the court did not explain the delay between the December 2025 judgment and the application filed in May 2026.
“The court did not give us the opportunity to know what informed its reasons to set aside the judgment when there is no finding on the point why the applicants waited till 4th May 2026 before they applied to set aside the judgment. It appears there are more the public did not know,” he added.
The senior lawyer’s intervention comes amid growing legal and political debate over the Federal High Court’s decision, which effectively nullified the earlier judgment that led to the registration of the NDC and returned the matter for fresh determination.
