Registered Trustees Of Cherubim & Seraphim Church Movement& Anor V. Most Senior Apostle J. O. Ijaodola & Ors (2017)

LawGlobal-Hub Lead Judgment Report – COURT OF APPEAL

IGNATIUS IGWE AGUBE, J.C.A.( Delivering the Leading Judgment)

In the High Court of Kwara State, in the Offa Judicial Division, the parties in these Appeal and Cross-Appeal filed Suits Nos. KWS/OF/26/94; KWS/OF/13/95; KWS/OF/14/95 and KWS/OF/16/95 seeking for various declaratory, injunctive and monetary reliefs against each other. The suits were all before Hon. justice Ahmad O. Belgore who upon the application of parties consolidated them and ordered that the Plaintiffs in Suit Numbers KWS/OF/26/94, KWS/OF/13/95 and KWS/OF/14/95 shall remain the Plaintiffs while the Defendants in all the three Suits as well as the Plaintiffs in KWS/OF/16/95 shall remain the Defendants. Subsequently, the cases were transferred to Hon. justice S.D. Kawu of the Ilorin Division of the High Court for eventual determination.

In Suit No. KWS/OF/13/95 in a whopping ninety-six paragraphed statement of claim, the Plaintiffs (now Respondents) sought for the following Reliefs.

“(i) An order setting aside the unconstitutional expulsion of the 1st Plaintiff as per list (sic) of Defendant’s letter of 12/6/95 which is baseless, contravenes sections 33 (1) and 35 (1) of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1979 and unknown to the movement’s constitution.

(ii) A declaration that the 1st-3rd Defendants had ceased to be members of the Plaintiffs Esa-Oyan Church/branch since they stopped to pay their tithes and / or other dues for well over 1-1/2 years and had started a parallel congregation of their own since in November, 1994, in 3rd Defendant’s residence at Yidi Area, Offa.

(iii) A declaration that the Plaintiffs (i.e the Esa-Oyan congregation) being the beneficial owners of the Esa-Oyan C& 5 Church land are entitled to change the name of their congregation and its property or properties at any time whatsoever.

(iv) A perpetual injunction prohibiting the Defendants their servants agents and/or privies from developing the Esa-Oyan Church being a public place and,

(v) An order to compel the 2nd Defendant to return all Esa-Oyan Church documents which may be in his possession before, on and/or at the death of the 4th Defendant to the Plaintiffs who are the representatives of the Esa-Oyan Church/congregation”.

In their Amended Statement of Defence the 1st to 5th Defendants raised a preliminary Objection on the grounds of locus standi of the Plaintiffs to bring the claim having voluntarily withdrawn their memberships and also that the lower court lacked the jurisdiction to entertain the suit as it was a domestic matter of an organization where the plaintiffs had not exhausted the remedies available under the constitution of the Cherubim and Seraphim Church Movement and the Rules and Regulations made there under which every member swore to uphold and accepted as binding on him individually.

Further more, it was contended in the Objection Notice that there was no cause of action upon which the court below could adjudicate. In the alternative, the 1st – 5th Defendants admitted some paragraphs of the Statement of Claim but denied others and put the Plaintiffs to the strictest proof.

They then proceeded to traverse the denied paragraphs of the statement of claim of the Plaintiffs and prayed the court as follows:

“69 whereof the Defendants pray the court to dismiss all the heads of the plaintiffs claim for the following reasons: –

(i) The court lacks jurisdiction being a domestic matter and the plaintiffs have not exhausted the system within the organization.

(ii) The Plaintiffs’ remedy for wrongful expulsion has been overtaken by his (SIC) withdrawal from the membership of the Movement and the court cannot compel him to be associated with an organization against his wish.