The recent decision of the Supreme Court in Ngere vs OkuruketXIV” (NGERE) has raised a novel point with regard to the application of the principle against self review by a High Court judge. This common law principle is of great antiquity and is stated in the case of Preston Banking Co.vs William Allsup & Sons thus;

 “In my opinion, it is of the utmost importance, in order that there maybe
some finality in litigation, that when once the order had been
completed it should not be liable to review by the   judge who made it:”

In Thynne vs. Thynne, the English Court of Appeal restated the same principle thus;‘

“Where the court has made the order it intended to make, the judgment must stand until set aside on appeal or by action brought for the purpose. The court cannot otherwise eat its own words simply because the evidence on which it is acted is shown to be wrong, whether the error is brought about deliberately or by accident”.

The principle appears settled and has been applied in all the superior courts of record in Nigeria.