Justice A. Ashoms of the Plateau State High Court, has sentenced Mr. John Gabriel Mallo and Mr. Bulus Mandor to Prison for contempt of Court Orders in respect to Butura Stool in Bokkos Local Government Area of the state.
The Court in its Ruling in a Committal Proceeding brought against Hon. Dayyabu Garga (the incumbent Chairman of Kanam Local Government Council), Mr. John Gabriel Mallo, Mr. Bulus Mandor, Mr. Monday Adachin and Mr. James Yilnaan by Masok Malo, Malo Matawal and Enock Kamo, insisted that, court orders must be protected.
While ruling on the Attorney-General’s entering of a Nolle Proseque in the matter, the Court which discountenanced the application of the A-G said, giving effect to it would make the Court naked and robbed of its power.
However, Hon. Justice Ashom, who took several hours in his judgment to distinguish between a Criminal Case and a Quasi Criminal Case, held that, the committal case before him arose out of a Civil matter and the contempt was not against the claimants, but against the court and its orders which must be protected.
Mr. Monday Adachin (3rd respondent) Hon. Dayyabu Garga, the 4th respondent and Mr. James Yilnaan (5th respondent) were set off the hook by the court on the ground that they were not directly linked to the act and contempt.
While reacting to the ruling and judgment of court, M. A. Dawam (Esq), Counsel for the claimants said, “this is victory for us once more and for Justice because, this is a reinforcement of judicial principles. It also reestablished the sanctity to the Orders of Court. It is a pointer that nobody should temper with the positive Orders of Court and go free. Beyond anything, we thought that this day will not come, but eventually despite the long period, today we have a judgment.
“There are two distinctive issues that we found very interesting and victorious. First, is the settlement in the ruling that the Plateau State Attorney General (A-G) to enter Nolle Proseque in a Civil Matter, especially when the contempt of the orders of court in civil matters are concerned.
“My Lord has painstakingly stated the position and the legal principle and beyond any else, it would have been otherwise very bad if the AG was allowed the power to stall or truncate the punishment that would have meted out to persons who are in contempt of the positive Orders of Court. But here, the court said, the judicial powers available to the court cannot be truncated by either the Legislature or the Executive. So, I am sure it has set parameters of engagement among the three arms of government with regard to the operations of the rule of law”, he added.
