The Court of Appeal urged Mr Falana, who is ASUU's lawyer, to toe the path of his years-long campaigns as an advocate of the rule of law and obedience to lawful court orders.
The Court of Appeal in Abuja has challenged renowned human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, to ensure his client, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), complies with the order compelling the union to end its ongoing strike.
The member-panel of the court described as "worrisome" ASUU's failure to obey the earlier order of the National Industrial Court in Abuja compelling the union to call off the almost eight months old strike.
In the lead ruling delivered on 7 October, Hamma Barka, the presiding justice of the three-man panel, urged Mr Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, to stay the course of his years-long advocacy for rule of law and obedience to lawful court orders with the ASUU's case.
"In conclusion, my Lords, permit me to express the view that I have known Mr Falana, SAN, for a long time as an advocate of the rule of law, and obedience to lawful orders made by courts of the land. He has championed that cause in numerous cases.
"I challenge him to aid the obedience of lawful court order re made," Mr Barka wrote in the certified true copy of the ruling obtained by PREMIUM TIMES.
This newspaper reported how the Court of Appeal, about a week ago, on 7 October, ordered ASUU to obey the earlier order of the National Industrial Court's order given on 21 September.
It granted ASUU a conditional permission to file an appeal against the decision of the lower court.
The three-member panel of the court predicated the permission on ASUU's compliance with the order of the National Industrial Court within seven days.
It will be exactly one week on Friday since the order was given, but ASUU has yet to call off its strikex which started almost eight months ago.
Mr Falana's team had, however, complained about the delay in the release of the certified true copy of the Court of Appeal's decision to enable them to advise ASUU appropriately.
The certified true copy of the Court of Appeal's decision seen by PREMIUM TIMES bears stamps dated 12 October (Wednesday), indicating that it was released five days after the ruling was delivered on 7 October.
Where Falana was right
ASUU had, through Mr Falana, applied for an order of stay of execution of the National Industrial Court's order, and the leave to file an appeal against it.
But Mr Falana, during the hearing, withdrew the prayer for stay of execution of the National Industrial Court's order, opting to pursue only the prayer for leave to appeal against the lower court's ruling.
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The federal government's lawyer, James Igwe, also a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, opposed the application, arguing that ASUU, still in disobedience of the lower court's order, was seeking an order of the Court of Appeal "with dirty hands".
Although Mr Barka, in his ruling, ordered ASUU to comply with the National Industrial Court's order, he agreed with Mr Falana there can be a justifiable reason not to obey a court order.
Such an exception is when the order is given without jurisdiction or the affected party is challenging the validity of the order.
It was on the basis of the consideration of the exceptional situation that the court granted ASUU the conditional permission to file its appeal.
"Supreme Court held that the common law rule precluding persons in disobedience of the court order against them from being heard in respect of the matters which they stand in disobedience permits of an exception where the order disobeyed was made without jurisdiction or where the party in disobedience is challenging the validity of the order.
"In view of this state of law, I am inclined to granting the application for leave to appeal the decision of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria delivered on 2nd day of September 2022 as prayed on the condition that the order of the lower court is obeyed immediately," the ruling read in part.
ASUU embarked on the ongoing strike on 14 February, accusing the federal government of refusing to implement a 2009 agreement on matters bordering on increased funding of universities and increasing lecturers' salaries.
DOWNLOAD CERTIFIED TRUE COPY (CTC) OF COURT OF APPEAL'S RULING
