Senator Appeals Contempt Ruling, Faults Trial Court’s Criminal Fine
A Nigerian senator has filed an appeal challenging a contempt ruling and criminal fine imposed by Justice Binta Nyako in Suit No: FHC/ABJ/CS/384/2025, delivered on July 4, 2025.
In her appeal, the lawmaker argued that her statement, which led to the contempt charge, was not related to the judicial proceedings before the court and therefore could not amount to contempt. She described the lower court’s interpretation as “erroneous and, indeed, perverse.”
The senator further contended that the trial court overstepped its bounds by imposing a criminal fine not sought in the original application filed by the 3rd respondent.
“The law is settled that the court and indeed the parties are bound by the reliefs sought on the face of the application,” part of the appeal read. “The decision of the trial judge to substitute the 3rd respondent’s reliefs with her own orders extraneous to the motion paper amounts to descending into the arena of conflict, which occasioned a miscarriage of justice.”
She is therefore urging the Court of Appeal to set aside Justice Nyako’s ruling in its entirety, arguing that the verdict violated legal procedures and principles of fair hearing.