Godwin I. Okeke & Ors. V. Madam Ebi Oruh (1999)

LAWGLOBAL HUB Lead Judgment Report

I. IGUH, J.S.C.

The proceedings leading to this appeal were first initiated in the High Court of Justice, Rivers State, holden at Port Harcourt on the 30th day of April, 1986. In that court, the three plaintiffs, the 2nd and 3rd suing as the administrators of the estate of the late Patrick Okereke Okoye, had claimed against the defendant as follows:-

“(1) A declaration that the 1st plaintiff is the lessee of the leasehold property known as Plot 153, Gborokiri Layout, Port Harcourt otherwise known as No.22, Etehe Street, Gborokiri (Borokiri) Port Harcourt.

(2) A declaration that the said lease registered as No.2 at page 2 in volume 297 in the Lands Registry at Enugu, now Port Harcourt is still subsisting.

(3) A declaration that the purported sale or transfer of the said Plot 153, Gborokiri Layout, Port Harcourt to the defendant by the Rivers State Government is null and void and of no effect whatsoever.

(4) A declaration that the purported cancellation of the lease granted to 1st plaintiff is null and void and of no effect whatsoever.

(5) That as the administrators of the estate of Late Patrick O. Okoye, the 2nd and 3rd plaintiffs are entitled to manage and superintend the property.

(6) N1,000.00 damages for trespass.

(7) A perpetual injunction restraining the defendant, her servants or agents from further acts of trespass to the said property.”

Pleadings were ordered in the suit and were duly settled, filed and exchanged.

When the case came up for hearing on the 6th day of July, 1987, the parties were in court except the 1st and 2nd plaintiffs. Learned counsel for the plaintiffs, S. J. Ofoluwa, Esq. was also absent although he had applied to the court in writing for an adjournment of the suit on the ground that he was appearing before the Court of Appeal, Enugu Division, on the same date. The defendant’s learned counsel, F. G. Peters, Esq. was present in court.

Following the said application for an adjournment by the plaintiffs’ counsel, the following notes appear in the record of proceedings of the learned trial Judge, namely:-

“On 18th May, 1987 Mr. Ofoluwa wrote that he was at Bori High Court and that the case should be adjourned to another date. Today he has sent a letter that he is at the Appeal Court Enugu, he again asks for adjournment.

Plaintiff says he is ready to proceed without his lawyer.”