Dr. (Mrs) Gloria Abiola V. Mrs. Grace Aramide Olawoye (2006)

LawGlobal-Hub Lead Judgment Report

GALINJE, J.C.A. 

Prof. Clifford Odunayo Olawoye, the 1st defendant at the Court below is the registered owner of the property in dispute which is situate and known as 56 Ogundana Street, Ikeja, Lagos. The respondent herein, who is the wife of Professor Clifford Odunuyo Olawoye, made enormous contribution towards the acquisition of the land and construction of the property aforesaid. This contribution which the respondent herein made was aptly acknowledged by Professor Olawoye in a handwritten note dated 2nd July 1984, in which he created trust in favour of the wife in the following words:-

“Darling,

I hereby write to acknowledge expressly that the purchase price of the land on which we are building at Ogundana Street, Ikeja was jointly contributed by both of us. I also wish to acknowledge your enormous contribution to the cost of construction of the property. The fact that the deed of assignment was made in my name cannot obliterate these facts. The legal position is that the property is held by me in trust for both of us equally.

I hope that this clarification will take care of any misgiving you may have and that you will continue to make the financial sacrifices necessary so that we can complete the works in time.

Your husband,

Odunayo.”

The wife is now the respondent in this appeal.

The property was later mortgaged in order to secure money for its completion. After the completion of the property, the couple resolved to let out the property in order to generate money to pay off the outstanding loan. In order to facilitate this, the family moved to the official quarters which was allocated to the respondent. Without the knowledge and consent of the respondent, Professor Olawoye later executed a Deed of Assignment in favour of late Chief M. K. O. Abiola in respect of the property on the 14th February, 1989. When information of the sale got to the knowledge of the wife, who is the respondent herein she protested in writing and returned the cheques which were rejected by the Estates Agent who facilitated the sale and the purchaser’s solicitors. In the process, the purchaser after having assured the respondent of amicable settlement, reneged, and later entered into the property and started making alteration.

The respondent went to court and sought for a declaration to set aside the Deed of Assignment of 24th February 1989. In that suit, Professor Clifford Odunayo Olawoye was the 1st defendant, the appellant who was sued as a representative of the Estate of Chief M. K. O. Abiola (deceased) the 2nd Defendant, the Governor of Lagos State and Lagos State Attorney General were joined as 3rd and 4th Defendants.

The appellant neither put up appearance nor filed any process throughout the proceedings at the lower court.

At the conclusion of hearing, judgment as reserved for 15th July, 2003. However on the 14th July 2003, the appellant filed an application in which she prayed for the following orders:-

1. Arrest/stay of the judgment of the court.
2. Extension of time to file a statement of defence.

The judge heard and refused the 1st prayer and said nothing about the second prayer. Thereafter the judge went ahead and delivered his Judgment. It is against this judgment that the appellant has appealed to this court on four grounds of appeal. I hereby reproduce the grounds of appeal hereunder without their particulars:-

“1. The learned trial Judge erred in law when she assumed jurisdiction to hear the suit thus contravening section 8 (1)(a) of the Limitation Law Cap 118, Laws of the Lagos State 1994.