APPELLATE PRACTICE — Exercise of Discretion — Interference by Appellate Court — Manifest Wrongness Standard
Ratio Decidendi
Per Onnoghen, JSC, in Enyibros Foods Processing Company Ltd & Anor v. Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation & Anor (2007) NLC-123-271-2001(SC) at p. 11; Paras B–C:
"The attitude of appellate courts to the exercise of discretion by lower courts is not dissimilar to that adopted over the issue of findings of fact, which is that unless the exercise of discretion by a court of first instance or by a lower court is manifestly wrong, arbitrary, reckless or injudicious, an appellate court would not interfere merely because faced with similar circumstances it would have reacted differently."
Explanation / Scope
Appellate courts will not interfere with the exercise of discretion by a lower court unless it is manifestly wrong, arbitrary, reckless, or injudicious. The appellate court cannot substitute its own view merely because it would have exercised the discretion differently. This standard respects the lower court’s role and ensures restraint in appellate intervention.