Mr. Paul N. Okoro V. Hon. Onya E. Osim & Ors (2012)

LawGlobal-Hub Lead Judgment Report – COURT OF APPEAL

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

The Appellant had taken out a writ of summons from the Registry of the Cross River State High Court for himself and on behalf of the family of late chief Paul O. Okoro on which were endorsed, claims for declarations and injunction against the Respondents in respect of the property at No. 105 Calabar Road, Calabar.

After service of the writ which was accompanied with the statement of claim to which several copies of documents were annexed on the Respondents (as defendants), the 1st Respondent vide a motion filed on the 8/7/08, prayed the High Court for the following reliefs:

1) AN ORDER of this Honourable Court dismissing this present suit for being statute barred.

2) AN ORDER of this Honourable Court that the Plaintiff on record lack the standing to initiate this present suit.

3) And such further or other orders as this Honourable Court may deem fit to make in the circumstance.

In reaction to the said motion, the Applicant deposed to and filed a 12 paragraph counter-affidavit on the 30/7/08 to oppose it.

The High Court after hearing arguments from the learned counsel for the parties to the motion, delivered its ruling therein on the 24/4/09, dismissing the Appellants’ suit for want of locus standi on his part and for the suit being statute barred. Being aggrieved by that decision, a notice of 6 grounds of appeal was filed for the Appellant against it on the 15/7/09.

In line with the requirement of the Rules of court, briefs of argument were filed by the learned counsel for the parties to the appeal as follows: – Appellants’ brief on the 7/5/10, the 1st Respondent’s brief on the 11/5/12 but deemed on 22/5/12 and the 2 – 6th Respondents’ brief on the 9/3/12 but deemed on the 22/5/12.

The briefs were adopted by the learned counsel for the parties at the oral hearing of the appeal on 22/5/12 as their respective submissions in support of their positions in the appeal which they urged us to uphold.

Mr. George N. Neji, Esq., the learned counsel for the Appellant had said at paragraph 3.0. on page 4 of the Appellant’s brief, that the following issues fall for decision in the appeal:-

“1. Whether the learned trial judge was right in holding that the property in dispute was vested in Paul Okoro & Sons Ltd. so as to deprive the appellant of the requisite locus to sue as representative of the Chief Paul Okoro (grounds 1 and 2).

2. Whether the learned trial judge was right in holding that the plaintiff’s cause of action arose in 1972 without the benefit of evidence at a trial of what transpired between that time and when the case was filed (grounds 3 and 6).
3. Whether the learned trial judge property evaluated the allegations of fraud raised by the plaintiff in the statement of claim before dismissing the action on the ground that it was statute barred (grounds 4 and 5)”.

For Mr. E. E. Osim, Esq., for the 1st Respondent, two issues arise for determination in the appeal as follows:-

“1. Whether the Appellant’s document, a letter dated the 5th day of June, 1972, acted upon by the trial court to deprive the Appellant the standing to sue was not an admission against interest to be acted upon?