It is not often that the final court gets to review its decisions. When it does make a departure, and a welcome one at that, from a previously taken position of law, it is an event that is greeted with much excitement by many an enthusiastic legal commentator.
The holding from MV Arabella soon met many an otherwise meritorious action filed at the Federal High Court with a roughshod sail indeed. Navigating the rough waters of timeous procedural objections on any of the grounds often associated with the holding from Arabella, soon became most perilous.
Without expressly saying so, even as there was an oblique reference to Boko v Nungwa in Biem v Social Democratic Party, the apex Court appeared not to have pointedly relied on Boko v Nungwa in view of the fact that the illuminating obiter statements of Peter-Odili JSC in that case did not form part of the leading judgment.
Secondly, in Biem, the Court illuminated the discussion bringing into sharp focus the provision of section 19 of the Federal High Court that makes for a single jurisdiction of the Federal High Court as well as power vested in the Head of Court by the Constitution to make Rules of Court.