Ruling
Once in a very long while, this court comes across cases or applications which seek to invoke the jurisdiction of this court that are not only flabbergasting but also challenge the very concepts of administration of justice and the interest of justice. This is one of such applications. The judgment that is the subject of this application for extension of time to file appeal out of time under rule 4 of the Court of Appeal Rules was delivered on October 5, 2004, (Okwengu, J. – as she then was), twelve (12) years before the present application was filed.
Being a succession case that substantially related to the way the properties that comprise the estate of the deceased were to be distributed among the beneficiaries, one would have expected the parties to be diligent in the prosecution of their respective cases.
In the application, the applicants explain the reason for the delay in lodging the notice of appeal in time to ignorance of the effect of the judgment which they only became …