RTEAN Committee Seeks Leave Of Appeal To Challenge Nullification

 

Members and officials of the State Parks Administrators Ad-hoc Committee have approached the Court of Appeal, Lagos seeking the leave of the court to file a notice of motion to appeal the judgment which nullified their committee and re-instated the elected leadership of the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN).

Their notice of leave to appeal dated April 28 was brought pursuant to Order 6, Rules 1, 2 & 7 of the Court of Appeal Rules 2021, Section 243(3) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) as well as the inherent powers of the court.

READ ALSO: Lagos Govt Moves To Appeal Judgement Nullifying RTEAN Caretaker Committee

The RTEAN is listed as the 1st respondents in the suit while the Governor of Lagos, the Attorney General of Lagos, and the Special Adviser to the Governor on Transportation, Mr. Sola Giwa were listed as the 2nd to the 4th respondents in the suit. The Commissioner of police, Lagos State, is listed as the 5th respondents.

Through their lawyer, Taiwo Kupolati (SAN), the appellants in the notice say they are dissatisfied with the judgment of the National Industrial Court and are seeking an ORDER of the court granting them leave to appeal against the said judgment.

They listed out 7 Grounds in the Proposed Notice of Appeal.

GROUND ONE

The trial court erred in law when it dismissed the Appellants’ preliminary objection

dated 30th September 2022 challenging the competence of the 1st Respondent’s Originating Summons and the jurisdiction of the trial court to hear 1st Respondent’s action as constituted.

In particulars put before the court, the appellants say that the lower court lacks jurisdiction to assume jurisdiction on the 1st Respondent’s action which was initiated without due process having been inappropriately commenced by Originating Summons contrary to the clear provisions of Order 3 Rule 3 and the proviso to Order 3, rule 17 of the National lndustrial Court of Nigeria (Civil Procedure) Rules, 2011.

According to them, an action, such as the 1st Respondent’s action, which raises a substantial dispute of facts or is likely to involve a substantial dispute of facts, shall not be commenced by way of originating summons but by way of complaint.

GROUND TWO

The trial court erred in law when it granted the claims of the 1st Respondent when same were not proved and established.

GROUND THREE

The trial court erred in law when in granting the claims of the 1st Respondent, it held

that, “From the action of the Lagos State Government in dissolving the democratically elected executive and substituting them with a caretaker committee under the guise of maintaining security shows that the government was more interested in the leadership of the Applicant than the peace and tranquillity of the Applicant …”

 

GROUND FOUR

The trial Court erred in law when it relied on the affidavit depositions of the 1st Appellant, Exhibit Q, in Suit and those of the 4th Appellant, Exhibit’T’, in holding that the 2nd and 4th Respondents dissolved the 1st Respondent as a labour union and appointed Caretaker Committee to run the 1st Respondent’s affairs when Exhibit 01, the instrument issued by the Governor neither dissolved nor suspended the 1st Respondent, not does the document refer to the 1st Respondent in any wise.

 

GROUND FIVE

The trial Court erred in law and fact in relying on Exhibits f31, 82 and 83 as a factual means for holding that the 2nd Respondent suspended the entire branch of the 1st Respondent or interfered with the 1st Respondent by dissolving it as a trade union.

 

GROUND SIX

The trial court erred in law when in granting the 1st Respondent’s claim, it failed to limit itself to the declarations sought but went ahead to grant enforceable orders on the Originating Summons.

 

GROUND SEVEN

The judgment is against the weight of evidence.

In their reliefs, they are seeking an ORDER allowing the appeal and setting aside the judgment of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria, Lagos division delivered by Justice Maureen Esowe in the suit of the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria Vs The Executive Governor of Lagos State & 36 others delivered on April 18, 2023 or any other order the court may deem fit and proper to make in the circumstances of the appeal.

The court is yet to fix a date for the hearing of the suit.