Adamu Haruna V. Nazifi Salisu Adamu & Anor (2016)

LawGlobal-Hub Lead Judgment Report – COURT OF APPEAL

HABEEB ADEWALE OLUMUYIWA ABIRU, J.C.A. (Delivering the Leading Judgment)

The records of appeal in this appeal are a perfect example of how not to compile records of appeal. The processes in the lower Court were all jumbled up. The Ruling appealed against was the first document in the records and the processes by which the matter was commenced in lower Court are lost somewhere in the middle of the pack. There was no sequence or order in the arrangement of the processes in the records.

It trite law that the records of appeal is the final reference of events that took place in the lower Court and should be compiled to show the events step by step from when the matter was commenced to when it was concluded – Fawehinmi Construction Co. Ltd v. Obafemi Awolowo University (1998) 6 NWLR (Pt. 553) 171, and Ndayako v. Mohammed (2006) 17 NWLR (Pt. 1009) 673. Counsel who request for compilation of records and then refuse to supervise the compilation and allow records of appeal in nature of the one in present case come before this Court, are being most unfair to this Court. The Justices of this Court are already bogged down with a lot of work and

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adding the need of sorting out the sequence of occurrence of documents in records of appeal to their tasks is most annoying. Commenting on the need for lawyers to ensure the presentation of properly compiled records of appeal, Muhammad, JSC in Otu v. ACB International Bank Plc (2008) 1 SC (Pt. II) 1 at 34 stated thus:

“Before I drop my pen, let me observe that the record of appeal before me now is one of the shabbiest I have ever come across. Many important documents (some mentioned above) were missing; many of the proceedings of the trial Court and that of the Court below were jumbled up; some pages remain unclear. This is disgusting and annoying. Learned Counsel, particularly those whose responsibility it is to sponsor the compilation record must insist that a correct and decent record is transmitted to an appeal Court. That will facilitate the quick and smooth dispensation of cases in the appeal Court.”

Similarly in State v. John (2013) 12 NWLR (Pt. 1368) 337 at 361-362 F-C, Rhodes-Vivour, JSC said thus:

“Before I conclude I must observe that the record of appeal was badly prepared. A record of appeal is a very important document that theCourts & Judiciary

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appeal Court rely on when hearing an appeal. The Courts are bound by the record of appeal so all proceedings relevant for the appeal as they occurred must be reproduced in the record of appeal. A proper table of contents must contain all that is in the record of appeal with the correct pages reflected. ?registrars or counsel who have the responsibility to prepare records of appeal should ensure that proceedings are collated with care to reflect the sequence in which they occurred. They must be legible and properly paged. That sadly was not the case under reference.”

This Court cannot refuse to entertain this appeal because of the badly compiled records of appeal because of its avowed duty to see that justice is done to the disputes submitted to it by the parties for adjudication on the strength of the substance of their cases, and not on the technicalities of the case. But the time is coming, soon and very soon too, when badly compiled records of appeal will be rejected by the Registry of this Court, and where they escape the Registry, would be returned by this Court to the lower Court or Counsel that compiled same for re-compilation. Counsel

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and/or parties who request for compilation of records are hereby put on notice.

From the records of appeal, the dispute leading up to this appeal, was the joint claim of the Respondents for the sum of N6,432,500.00 against the Appellant and the dispute was taken before the Kano Multi Door Court House by the Respondents for Alternative Dispute Resolution. The records show that the notice of the referral of the dispute to the Kano Multi Door Court House for resolution and dated the 8th of June, 2012 was sent to the Appellant and that the Appellant consented to the resolution of the dispute by the Kano Multi Door Court House by signing a Submission Form. The records show that the parties, Respondents and Appellant signed the necessary Forms of the Kano Multi Door Court House, namely an Agreement to Arbitration, Confidentiality Agreement and a Confirmation of Attendance at the ADR Center. The records show that the dispute was mediated and settled between the parties and they executed a Terms of Settlement dated the 19th of July, 2012. The Appellant was the respondent before the Kano Multi Door Court House while the Respondents were the applicants and the