Chief Tony Okoroji V. Onyeka Onwenu (2016)

LawGlobal-Hub Lead Judgment Report – COURT OF APPEAL

MOHAMMED LAWAL GARBA, J.C.A. (Delivering the Leading Judgment)

In the judgment delivered on the 27th May, 2015 by the High Court of Lagos State, the Appellant’s Defamation/Libel Suit No. ID 185/2012 against the Respondent was dismissed on ground of want of proof. Not satisfied with the decision, the Appellant caused a Notice and Grounds of Appeal containing three (3) grounds to be filed against it.

For the purpose of the objection by the learned Counsel for the Appellant in the Appellant’s Reply Brief on the issues formulated in the Respondent’s brief, I would set out the grounds of appeal, without their particulars. They are as follows:-

“GROUND ONE

The learned Trial Judge erred in law when his lordship dismissed the Appellant’s suit on the ground that:

“In the absence of any evidence of what CW2, CW3 and CW4 think about the claimant upon reading the publication which has affected the good name, reputation and estimation in which the claimant stands in the society of their fellow citizens, it cannot therefore be said that the claimant has been defamed.”

GROUND TWO

The Learned Trial Judge erred in law when

1

his lordship dismissed the Appellant’s suit on the ground that the Appellant did not establish publication.

GROUND THREE

The learned Trial Judge erred in law when his lordship failed to pronounce on or determine all issues raised before the Court and thereby occasioned a miscarriage of justice.”

As required by the Rules of the Court, learned Counsel for the parties to the appeal filed and exchanged briefs of arguments in support of their respective positions. The Appellant’s brief was filed on the 30th October, 2015, the Respondent brief on the 2nd December, 2015 and the Appellant’s Reply Brief on the 18th December, 2015. The briefs of argument were adopted and relied on by the learned Counsel at the oral hearing of the appeal on the 10th October, 2016.

Mr. Justin Ige, Esq., learned Counsel for the Appellant, has raised three (3) issues for decision by the Court in the appeal. They are: –