C. I. Olaniyan & Ors. V. University Of Lagos & Anor (1985)

LawGlobal-Hub Lead Judgment Report

A. OPUTA, J.S.C.

Three separate Suits- Suit No. LD/1659/80, Suit No. LD/1660/80 and Suit No. LD/1661/80 respectively – were filed in the court of first instance by Appellants who were Plaintiffs, against the University of Lagos and the University of Lagos Council, the present Respondents as Defendants. Pleadings were ordered, filed, and duly delivered in each suit. The parties filed, each, an Amended Statement of Claim and an Amended Statement of Defence. At the close of pleadings, those three suits were then consolidated for hearing.

The 1st Appellant was by letter ADM/REG/360 dated 13th September, 1965, offered appointment as a Professor of Zoology in the Faculty of Science with effect from 1st September, 1965. The letter conveying this offer was tendered as Ex. “P2”. The offer Ex. “P2” was accepted by the 1st Appellant and the Memorandum as to the Terms and Conditions of the Appointment of 1st Appellant was tendered as Ex. “P1”. The Regulations Governing Service in the University of Lagos Senior Staff which accompanied the offer, Ex.”P2″, was tendered as Ex. “P3”. The letter terminating the appointment of 1st Appellant and paying him six months’ salary in lieu of notice was tendered as Ex. “P4”. The 1st Appellant replied, returning the Respondents’ cheque issued to him for N5,901.00 (Five thousand, nine hundred and one naira) representing six months’ salary in lieu of notice to the Respondents.

His letter (1st Appellant’s) was tendered as Ex. “P5”. The same process was repeated in respect of the 2nd and 3rd Appellants who were offered appointments as Professor of Law and Professor of Educational Psychology respectively. In each case, there was an offer of Appointment by the University, an acceptance of that offer, a Memorandum of Appointment, a Copy of the Regulations Governing Service in the University, a Termination of Appointment, a Rejection of the purported Termination of Appointment and a return of the cheque for six months’ salary in lieu of notice. In each case also, the Appellants regarded the “purported termination” of their respective appointments as “ultra vires, null and void and of no effect whatsoever”. I shall consider some of these vital documents in greater details later in this judgment.

After due hearing on relevant evidence, the learned trial judge Bada, J. held:-

“The Plaintiffs who are holders of public office with legal status in the established pensionable cadre of the public service of the Federation are entitled to remain in office until properly removed in accordance with the procedure applicable to their removal in the Regulations which apply to them…..In the result the Plaintiffs’ claims succeed and I hereby grant the following reliefs in the indorsement in their respective Amended Statements of Claim namely:

“1. Declaration that-

(a) the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Plaintiffs are still

(i) Professor of Zoology

(ii) Professor of Law and Dean of the Faculty of Law and

(iii) Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Professor of Educational Psychology respectively in the University of Lagos

(b) the purported termination of the appointment of each of the Plaintiffs as contained in the letter REG/23A of 30th December, 1980 is ultra vires of the Defendants contrary to the provisions of Section 17 of the University of Lagos Act 1967 as amended.

2. The defendants, their servants and or agents are hereby restrained from preventing any of the Plaintiffs from performing any of the functions and duties of his office or offices or interfering with the enjoyment of the rights, privileges and benefits attached to his office or offices.
3. The Defendants are hereby ordered to restore each of the Plaintiffs to his post and office or offices and to all rights and privileges attached thereto.”

The above was the judgment of the trial court.

The Defendants, now Respondents, aggrieved by the above judgment of the court of first instance then appealed to the Court of Appeal, Lagos Division, on 3 grounds alleging Errors in Law and Misdirections. The Court of Appeal held, allowing the appeal to it from the judgment of Bada J., that the contract of the Plaintiffs/Appellants were validly determined and that “the judgment and orders made by the Lagos High Court in the consolidated suits delivered on the 23rd June, 1981, are hereby set aside and a judgment dismissing the said suits substituted”. Ademola and Nnaemeka-Agu, JJ.C.A., both concurred.