Some legal victories are remembered not only for their outcome, but for the journey behind them.
The appeal in Enobong Victor-Isonguyo v. The State, reported as (2023) 3 NWLR (Pt. 1872) 519, stands out as a striking example of appellate advocacy and perseverance. Counsel Olayiwola Afolabi, SAN, took the matter from the Edo State High Court, through the Court of Appeal, and ultimately to the Supreme Court in about two years and 11 months.
The Court of Appeal delivered its judgment on 26 March 2020. The Supreme Court allowed the appeal on 8 April 2022, setting aside the lower courts’ decisions and discharging and acquitting Victor-Isonguyo.
The case carried the gravest possible consequences. Victor-Isonguyo had been convicted of murder and sentenced to death by the trial court. The Court of Appeal affirmed the conviction, leaving the Supreme Court appeal as her final opportunity to challenge the findings against her. Contemporaneous reporting by Punch records Afolabi’s argument before the Court of Appeal; the Supreme Court judgment also identifies E.O. Afolabi as counsel for the appellant.
The Supreme Court found that the conviction could not stand. It held that the co-accused’s confession could not be used against Victor-Isonguyo because she had not adopted it, and that the lower courts had relied on speculation in reaching their conclusions. The Court allowed the appeal and ordered her discharge and acquittal.
The speed of the journey is remarkable in itself. For anyone familiar with the time appellate litigation can take, moving from the High Court through the Court of Appeal and to the Supreme Court in under three years is no small feat. More striking still is the responsibility of pursuing a capital appeal through each stage, where the client’s life and liberty were at stake.
I had the privilege of working with Olayiwola Afolabi, SAN. I came to appreciate the painstaking preparation behind results that can appear effortless when they are eventually recorded in the law reports.
A reported judgment may occupy only a few pages. The advocacy behind it tells a much bigger story.
From the High Court to the Supreme Court. About two years and 11 months.
One counsel. One remarkable journey.
Some feats at the Bar deserve to be remembered.
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