S/Court awards N1m cost against Hembe, queries N/Assembly

The Supreme Court has awarded a punitive cost of N1 million against sacked House of Representatives member, Herman Hembe, for approaching the court after its earlier judgement.

The Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen, delivering the judgement of the five-man panel, said by the rules of the court, it was wrong to approach it to review its previous judgement whether the said judgement was right or wrong.

“Whether or not we are wrong, our decision is final,” he said.

While frowning at the act of using technicalities to jeopardise the judiciary, the chief justice said the Supreme Court was not only final in its judgement but also a policy maker so as to provide a stable society.

On the non-compliance of the leadership of the House of Representatives to swear in Dorothy Mato in Hembe’s stead as ordered by the court, the CJN held that the act was an ugly paragraph in the history of Nigeria.

The order for the punitive cost was made in favour of Mato, who was the respondent in the suit.

The court had on June 23, while ordering Hembe to vacate the seat, also ruled that he should be replaced by Mato, who was declared the rightful winner of the All Progressives Congress (APC) ticket for the Vandeikiya/Konshisha Federal Constituency of Benue State.

The apex court further ordered Hembe to return all salaries and benefits collected while in office to the Federal Government within 90 days.

Dissatisfied with this judgement, Hembe approached the apex court again, asking it to refer the case to a lower court for retrial.