The Supreme Court on 19 July, 2024, put to rest the Ewu chieftaincy dispute which lingered for nearly three decades and affirmed that His Royal Highness (HRH) Jafaru Isesele I is the rightful Onojie of Ewu in accordance with Esan Native Laws and Customs which is applicable in Ewu.
Barely two weeks ago, HRH Isesele I cried out that the Edo State Police Command under Mrs Betty Enekpen Isokpan Otimenyin refused to accompany Court Ballifs to Ewu to eject the illegal occupant of the Palace.
Lucky Isibor examines the implications and effects of the Supreme Court judgement on the Ewu Onojieship, consequences of disobedience of Court Orders among others.
If a party fails to comply with a judgement, the court can use its powers to ensure compliance, such as through contempt proceedings or other enforcement mechanisms – The Encyclopedia Britannica.
The Onojie of Ewu, HRH Jafaru Isesele I has appealed to the new Commissioner of Police, Edo State, CP Monday Agbonika to deploy Policemen to accompany Court Ballifs from the Edo State High Court to Ewu to enforce the judgment of the Supreme Court of Nigeria on the Ewu Onojieship dispute in Suit No. SC/147/2014 delivered On Friday, the 19th of July, 2024.
The Onojie’s call rendered in a petition to the new Commissioner of Police, the Ewu monarch through his lawyer, Kingsley Obamogie (SAN) alleged that Agbonika’s predecessor, the redeployed Edo State Commissioner of Police, CP Betty Enekpen Isokpan Otimenyin did not give the Edo State judiciary the necessary Police cover to execute the said Supreme Court judgement as directed by the Chief Judge of Edo State in a letter dated 24 March, 2025 and signed by Mrs. M.O. Okoeguale, a Deputy Director in the Edo State High Court Registry on behalf of the Edo State Judiciary.
As tongues started waging on the inability of Isesele I to take possession of the Ewu Royal Palace as directed by the Supreme Court which further affirmed the concurrent orders of the High Court of Edo State and the Court of Appeal, declaring him as the legitimate successor to the throne of Onojie of Ewu and directing the Appellant to surrender possession of the palace of the Onojie of Ewu to the monarch, we sought the position of the law on enforcement of Supreme Court judgments from legal experts, including Kingsley Obamogie (Esq), a legal luminary, Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and learned counsel to HRH Jafaru Isesele I, Onojie of Ewu.
In an interview with newsmen, Obamogie, the learned Senior Advocate of Nigeria pointed out that the Supreme Court judgement shall be enforced adding that the Police as a body has a duty under the Constitution of Nigeria to give security cover to court Ballifs to enforce the judgment as pronounced by the apex court.
He said his client will avail himself of the procedural devices designed to enforce judgments, adding that the petition to the Commissioner of Police is the first step in that direction.
While pointing out that it is the duty of all persons and authorities in Nigeria and all courts of coordinate jurisdiction to the Supreme Court to enforce the judgment of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, Obamogie noted that in the case of the Ewu judgement that the there’s a perpetual injunction by the apex court on the Appellant, Prince Rasaq Ojieifoh from ever laying claim to the stool of Onojie of Ewu, adding that doing so will tantamount to contempt of court.
Obamogie added that the refusal of the Appellant to vacate the Ewu palace as directed by the Supreme Court is a contempt of court already, pointing out that HRH Isesele I shall file Form 48 to commence contempt proceedings against the Appellant for failure to obey the order of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.
“It is the duty of all authorities and persons in Nigeria and of all courts with subordinate jurisdiction to that of the Supreme Court of Nigeria to enforce the judgment of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, because the judgment of the Supreme Court of Nigeria in any district is final and there’s no further appeal to any other court. So, it is binding on all persons and authorities in Nigeria and there is no discretion in it.
“Now, coming down to Edo State, we have our own Sheriff and Civil Process Law of 1976 of the defunct Bendel State which is now applicable in Edo State.
The Sheriff and Civil Process Law of 1976 of the defunct Bendel State which is still our Law that governs service of processes in courts and execution of court judgments; and under Section 11 of that law there’s a mandatory duty on the police to provide protection for the Sheriffs and Ballifs of courts who are involved in execution of court judgments.
“The duty of the Ballifs and Sheriffs of courts is to notify the Commissioner of Police and to show evidence of the judgment and the Writ of Execution or Writ of Possession signed by a Judge of the High Court of Edo State. Once this is done, the police has a mandatory duty to provide armed police protection for the Ballifs to carry out their statutory duty. That is the process of enforcement of judgments. The judgment of court could either be declaratory or executory. It is declaratory when the court merely declares the legal position of the dispute without any enforceable order attached, and it is executory when there’s an order of court attached, either for payment of money or an injunction restraining the performance of the act or mandatorily requiring the performance of an act.
“The Supreme Court judgment on the Ewu chieftaincy dispute is executory in the sense that (1) there is a mandatory order of the court that the Appellant, Prince Rasak Ogiefo who is in possession of the palace should deliver it up to the First Respondent, Jafaru Isesele who is the legitimate Onojie of Ewu. There is that forceable order by the court and secondly, there’s an order of court restraining Prince Rasak Ogiefo from parading himself as Onojie of Ewu. There is an existing injunction issued against him either parading himself as Onojie of Ewu or allowing himself to be paraded as Onojie of Ewu and there is even a further injunction restraining him from ever laying claim to the Onojie of Ewu. It is an executory judgment and of course you know that the Supreme Court also awarded a cost of three Million Naira against him which he must pay”.
While advicing the Police to obey the Constitution by availing Court Ballifs security to enforce the Supreme Court judgement on the Ewu chieftaincy dispute, Obamogie pointed out that Nigeria is not a lawless society adding that the law does not allow resort to self help under any circumstance.
“There are options open to the successful First Respondent, Jafaru Isesele, we don’t live in a lawless society. For every situation, there’s an option that the law provides, we are going to explore those options. The Commissioner of Police has a mandatory duty to perform and if a public officer refuses or neglect to perform a public duty, we have a process of court we can invoke in order for them to compel the perform of that duty.
“My advice to the police is simple, to obey the Constitution and obey the law. There is a duty on them to obey the Constitution, Section 1 of the Constitution makes it mandatory that the Constitution is supreme and binding on all persons and authorities in Nigeria and by Section 287 sub section 1 of the Constitution, the police is one of the institutions that is bound to enforce the judgment of the Supreme Court of Nigeria”.
Another Benin based legal practitioner and senior member of the Bar, said all judgments of courts must be enforced. The senior lawyer who craved anonymity, advised the Appellant who lost all the cases from the High Court to the Supreme Court in the Ewu chieftaincy dispute to obey the orders contained in the judgement to a avoid embarrassment as the Supreme Court is the final arbiter in Nigeria.