S.A. Akinola & Anor V. Wema Bank PLC (2014)

LawGlobal-Hub Lead Judgment Report – COURT OF APPEAL

YARGATA BYENCHIT NIMPAR, J.C.A. (Delivering the Leading Judgment)

This appeal is against the Judgment of HONOURABLE JUSTICE A. OLATERU – OLAGBEGI of the Lagos State High Court, delivered on the 2nd July, 2004 in the favour of the Respondent. The appellants were Claimants in the High Court whilst the present Respondent acquired the initial defendant – National Bank of Nigeria and was substituted by order of court on the 11th day of June, 2007.

The appellants being dissatisfied with the judgment of the court filed a Notice of Appeal dated 11th day of April, 2011 with 7 grounds of appeal pursuant to leave of this court granted on the 6th April, 2011 extending the time within which the appellants can appeal.

FACTS

The appellants by a further amended writ of summons and statement of claim dated 12th day of January, 2005 claim from the Respondent the following reliefs:

a. A DECLARATION that the plaintiff’s are prospective owners of the respective houses/flats and quarters they now live at the National Bank Housing Estate, Satellite Town, Badagry Expressway, Lagos.

b. AN ORDER OF PERPETUAL INJUNCTION restraining the defendant by themselves, their servants, agents and/or privies from interfering with the plaintiffs’ occupation of their houses/flats or taking any step whatsoever from evicting or dispossessing the plaintiffs from their respective flats or houses in their occupation of the National Bank Housing Estate, Satellite Town, Badagry Expressway, Lagos.

c. AN ORDER that the Defendant should accept from the Plaintiffs the difference (if any) between the amounts already paid by the Plaintiffs as deposits and the value of respective houses/flats as at the date of the completion of the houses/flats in full and final settlement of the purchase prices of the respective house/flats occupied by the Plaintiffs.

d. That the defendant does prepare a purchase agreement for the parties to execute.

The Appellants were staff of the Respondent and had served the Respondent for between 10 – 20 years. They occupy houses owned by the Respondent but allocated to them when they were in service. The land upon which the houses were built was allocated to the Respondent by the Federal Government to build houses for the benefit of workers in the employment of the Respondent.

The intention of the Federal Government was to aid workers to own houses. Appellants are no longer in the employment of the Respondent and sought to own the houses by taking out a writ against the Respondent claiming the reliefs reproduced above. The trial court dismissed their claim thus this appeal.

The appellant filed their Appellants Amended brief on the 24/9/2013, deemed and adopted on the 21/10/2014 wherein the appellants distilled 4 issues for determination as follows:

(i) Whether from the state of the pleadings and evidence, the learned trial Judge could have correctly reached a decision that the Appellants have no cause of action in this suit without the benefit of argument of either side.

(ii) Whether the learned trial Judge of the Lagos State High Court was right in law in extricating the Exhibit 2 and basing the judgment on the Exhibit alone to the exclusion Exhibits 1, 12 & 13.