Barr Jerry Akpan v. Prudential Co-operative Micro-finance Bank Ltd & Ors (2023)

LawGlobal-Hub Lead Judgment Report – COURT OF APPEAL

PETER CHUDI OBIORA, JCA (Delivering the leading judgment)

This is an interlocutory appeal against the decision of the High Court of Akwa Ibom State sitting at Uyo delivered by Hon. Justice Aniekan Akpan on 11th day of June, 2019 in suit No. HU/UND/132/2018.

The appellant was sued along with two other parties, as defendants, by the 1st respondent.

The appellant was dissatisfied with the decision which is contained at pages 210 – 218 of the record of appeal and has appealed to this court on five grounds of appeal contained at pages 221-225 of the record of appeal.

The record of appeal was transmitted to this court on 24/7/2019.

Brief facts of the case

The 1st respondent as the claimant at the lower court vide a motion ex-parte prayed the court for an order to place the suit under the Undefended List in line with order 11 rule 8(1) and (2) of the High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules of Akwa Ibom State, 2009.

The lower court granted the application and the suit was placed on the Undefended List and the writ of summons was served on the appellant who was the 1st defendant in the suit. Thereafter, the appellant entered appearance to the suit and filed a notice of intention to defend the suit found at pages 73 – 108 of the records of appeal.

In addition, the appellant brought an application before the trial court praying it to strike out the suit for lack of jurisdiction as the suit was statute barred based on the provisions of the Central Bank of Nigeria Prudential Guidelines for Deposit Money Banks in Nigeria, 2010.

The 1st respondent reacted to the appellant’s application. The trial court heard the appellant’s application and dismissed it by a ruling delivered on 11th June, 2019, hence this appeal.

The appellant’s brief of argument was filed on 10/3/2020 and was duly regularized by leave of the court. The 1st respondent filed her brief of argument on 7/10/2021 along with a motion on notice to regularize the said brief which was filed out of time. The application was taken and the brief was regularized on 9/10/2023 when this appeal was heard.

The appellant also filed his reply brief of argument in response to the preliminary objection embedded in the 1st respondents brief on 20/6/2022. This appeal was heard on 9/10/2023 wherein the appellant adopted his main brief and reply brief filed in respect of the appeal, while Andem Ndem, Esq. of counsel for the 1st respondent, adopted the brief of argument of the 1st respondent. The 2nd and 3rd respondents were not represented at the hearing.

Preliminary objection

I wish to note that the 1st respondent raised a preliminary objection to the competence of this appeal. I intend to deal with the preliminary objection before going into the substantive appeal, if there is still need to do so. The grounds for the objection are as follows: