Monday, May 11, 2026 - The Supreme Court has set aside the decision of the Court of Appeal which awarded Elder Achuba Simon the sum of over N1.07 billion as alleged unpaid salaries, allowances, and entitlements.
The apex court held that the Court of Appeal exceeded its
appellate jurisdiction when it proceeded, through a post-judgment application,
to calculate and award specific monetary sums to Achuba instead of remitting
the matter to the National Industrial Court, being the court of first instance,
for proper determination and quantification of the alleged entitlements.
The Supreme Court, in its judgment, drew a clear distinction
between a judgment declaring a party entitled to salaries and allowances and a
judgment awarding a specifically quantified monetary sum.
According to the court, while the earlier judgment affirmed
Achuba’s entitlement to salaries and allowances, it did not fix or pronounce
any exact amount payable.
Consequently, any subsequent claim for a definite sum
required proper commencement and proof before the National Industrial Court
through appropriate proceedings.
The court further held that a post-judgment motion could not
lawfully be used as a substitute for substantive proceedings involving the
assessment, computation, and proof of disputed monetary claims, particularly
claims running into billions of naira which may require pleadings, documentary
evidence, and evaluation of competing figures.
In a pronouncement on appellate jurisdiction, the Supreme
Court held that the Court of Appeal effectively sat as a court of first
instance when it undertook the exercise of calculating and awarding the N1.07
billion claim despite the absence of prior findings and evidential evaluation
by the trial court on the exact sums due.
The appellants, who were represented by Chief Joseph Bodunde
Daudu (SAN), had argued that the earlier judgment merely affirmed Achuba’s
entitlement to salaries and allowances without specifically quantifying the
sums payable, and that any subsequent claim for a definite amount ought
properly to have been initiated and determined before the National Industrial
Court.
The appellants also argued that the Supreme Court possessed
jurisdiction to entertain the appeal since the complaint before it was
fundamentally against the wrongful assumption of original jurisdiction by the
Court of Appeal.
The lead judgment was delivered by Justice Chioma Egondu
Nwosu-Iheme and was supported by three other Justices of the Supreme Court,
while Hon. Justice Obande Festus Ogbuinya dissented.
The dissenting judgment took a different view as to whether
the Court of Appeal merely enforced an existing judgment or improperly assumed
original jurisdiction by making a fresh substantive monetary award.
Accordingly, the Supreme Court set aside the N1.07 billion
award made in favour of Simon Achuba, whose legal team was led by Femi Falana
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