Oba Emmanuel Adebowale Adebayo V. Chief Julius Adeduro Okeya (2015)

LawGlobal-Hub Lead Judgment Report – COURT OF APPEAL

AHMAD OLAREWAJU BELGORE, J.C.A. (Delivering the Leading Judgment)

This is an appeal against the decision of the Ekiti State High Court of Justice, holden at Emure-Ekiti (Hereinafter referred to as (The trial Court) contained in the Judgment of L. O. Ogundana, J, delivered on the 26th day of June, 2014 whereby he declared the removal from office of the claimant (Now, The Respondent) by the defendant (Now, The Appellant) as being illegal, unlawful, null, void and of no legal consequence whatsoever after having declared that the appellant lacked the legal capacity to unilaterally and without recourse to the Executive Council of Ekiti State or the Governor of Ekiti State to remove or depose the respondent as the Baale of Eporo as purportedly done in Exhibit E.

Three of the four reliefs sought by the respondent, viz:

4. AN ORDER setting aside and/or nullifying the Defendants purported removal or deposition of the Plaintiff as theBaale of Eporo as contained in his letter dated 3rd day of December, 2011 and Ref. No. Elemek 40A/22.
5. AN ORDER OF PERPETUAL INJUNCTION restraining

the Defendant, his agents, privies, servants or any person(s) however described acting for and/or on behalf of the Defendant from making further attempts at removing or deposing the Plaintiff as the Baale (of) Eporo without the authority so to do delegated to him by the State Executive Council or the Governor of Ekiti State and for any reasons outside those provided by the Chiefs law of Ekiti State

6. AN ORDER of this Honourable Court on the Defendant to pay to the Plaintiff all the arrears of his salaries or stipends paid by the Emure Local Government to the Defendant from March, 2003 until August, 2013 and thereafter till Judgment is delivered in this case.

were granted almost verbatim. The relief No. 6 for N50 Million damages/compensation sought by the respondent was refused by the learned trial Judge for the reasons adduced by him.

It is against this judgment that the appellant has appealed to this Court vide a Notice of Appeal containing three (3) grounds of appeal. This Notice of Appeal was later amended by the leave of this Court on the 4th day of May, 2015 by

(i) Substituting 9th day of March, 2012 for 8th day of March,

2012 in particular 2, ground one;

(ii) Deleting ground Two (2) of appeal;

(iii) Renumbering Ground Three of the Notice of Appeal as Ground Two.

The two grounds of appeal of the amended notice of appeal read as follows:-

GROUNDS OF APPEAL

1. The learned trial Judge erred in law when he held that he took Judicial notice of the fact that the relevant law in force in Ekiti State as at 2011 when the Claimants cause of action arose being one relating to the deposition of a minor Chief is the Chiefs Law of Ekiti State 2010 the commencement date of which is 1st January, 1984 when the law was not yet in operation not having being (Sic) signed into law.

Particulars

i. Until a law of House of Assembly in respect of State audit Act in the case of National Assembly is duly assented to by the executive is not yet in operation.