Samson Babatunde Olarewaju V. Afribank Nigeria Plc (2001)

LAWGLOBAL HUB Lead Judgment Report

KATSINA-ALU, J.S.C.

The plaintiff Samson Babatunde Olarewaju brought this action at the High Court of Justice Maiduguri presided over by Kolo, C.J. In the action he claimed the following reliefs:

(a) Determination that the defendant’s letter dated 11th March, 1993 addressed to the plaintiff titled ‘dismissal’ is incompetent, illegal, void and of no effect whatsoever.

(b) That the defendant be ordered to reinstate the plaintiff to his former post.

(c) That the defendant be ordered to pay all arrears of salaries and entitlement due to the purported dismissal.

(d) That he be promoted to bring him at par with his mates.

(e) An injunction restraining the defendant from dismissing the plaintiff without just cause.

(f) The cost of the suit.

(g) In the alternative to paragraph (b) payment of the sum of six hundred thousand Naira (N600,000.00)only as general damages to the plaintiff by the defendant for wrongful dismissal of the plaintiff from the service of the defendant on or about the 11th March, 1993

I would like to observe that after the plaintiff had closed his case and the defendant opened its own, the plaintiff amended his statement of claim on 15th December 1993 by adding paragraph “g” as appeared above. I would observe also that the plaintiff did not give or lead further evidence as regards sub-paragraph “G” after the amendment was granted.

At the end of the trial, the learned Chief Judge in a reserved judgment found in favour of the plaintiff. The learned C.J. concluded thus:

“It is my view, therefore, that the plaintiff’s employers made a serious mistake and took a calculated risk when they ventured to dismiss the plaintiff without first having the plaintiff arraigned for the serious offences of fraud and have his guilt established in a law court. Such dismissal in my view cannot stand the test of the time as it is a nullity. I also declare the dismissal of the plaintiff a nullity and consequently a judgment for the plaintiff with costs. I assessed the costs at N1,000.00 (One thousand Naira) in favour of the plaintiff against the defendant bank.”

The learned C.J. proceeded to make the following orders:-

“1. I order that the plaintiff be re-instated by the defendant bank forthwith.