ATTORNEY-GENERAL OF OYO STATE & ANOR v.
FAIRLAKES HOTEL LIMITED
(1988) LPELR-624(SC)
In The Supreme Court of Nigeria
On
Friday, the 2nd day of December, 1988
SC.169/1986(R)
Before Their Lordships
ANDREWS
OTUTU OBASEKI Justice of The Supreme Court of Nigeria
AUGUSTINE
NNAMANI Justice of The Supreme Court of Nigeria
ADOLPHUS
GODWIN KARIBI-WHYTE Justice of The Supreme Court of Nigeria
SAIDU
KAWU Justice of The Supreme Court of Nigeria
CHUKWUDIFU
AKUNNE OPUTA Justice of The Supreme Court of Nigeria
ABDUL
GANIYU OLATUNJI AGBAJE Justice of The Supreme Court of Nigeria
ABUBAKAR
BASHIR WALI Justice of The Supreme Court of Nigeria
Between
1.
ATTORNEY-GENERAL OF OYO STATE
2. THE COMMISSIONER FOR TRADE,
INDUSTRIES AND CO-OPERATIVE - Appellant(s)
2. THE COMMISSIONER FOR TRADE,
INDUSTRIES AND CO-OPERATIVE - Appellant(s)
AND
FAIRLAKES
HOTEL LIMITED - Respondent(s)
Other Citations
A.G., Oyo
v. Fairlakes Hotel Ltd (1988) 5 NWLR (Pt.92) 1
Summary
This
matter borders on Practice and Procedure with respect to power of the Apex
Court to consider fresh points on appeal and in this particular case,
Appellants were the Defendants in the Federal High Court Lagos in an action by
the Respondents as Plaintiffs claiming as follows:- "The Plaintiff claims
against the Defendants jointly and severally or in the alternative as follows:-
1. DECLARATION: (a) That this Memorandum and Articles of Association of New Oyo
Hotels Limited presented to the 1st Defendant for registration since April,
1978, and on which a duty of N18,756.00 was paid is entitled to be registered
notwithstanding the fact that the subscribing representative of the 2nd and 3rd
Defendants has not been able to produce his tax clearance certificate. (b) That
the 2nd and 3rd Defendants or either of them is not entitled to obstruct the
registration of the said New Oyo Hotels Limited for objects for which it was
intended, or in any way substitute for the Plaintiff any other company or
person as financial partner in the proposed new Government hotel for Ibadan. 2.
Further or alternatively to 1(b) Damages (general and special) in the sum of
Five 5 Million Naira (N5,000,000.00) against the 2nd and 3rd Defendants jointly
and severally for the loss suffered or to be suffered by the Plaintiff for
breach by the 2nd and 3rd Defendants of an agreement entered into between 1977
and 1978, to operate an international hotel in Ibadan in co-operation with the
Plaintiff on a joint venture basis." Pleadings were ordered, filed and
exchanged. The action went to trial. Ultimately, the court found the 2nd and
3rd Defendants liable to the Plaintiffs, but refused to grant the declaration
sought in 1(b) and awarded damages as follows - 1. item 1(a) - N10,500 2. item
2(a) - N3,800 3. item 2(b) - N1,900 4. item 2(c) - N5,550 5. item 3 - N24,391
6. General Damages - N65,000 The Court also awarded N5,000 as costs in the
action. The appeal to the Court of Appeal, was dismissed in its entirety. The
Plaintiffs cross-appealed with respect to an award of expected profit and the
refusal of award for loss of profit based on the feasibility report. The Court
of Appeal disallowed the award of N50,000 with interest as general damages but
substituted an award of N1,913,000 as loss of profits. The appeal against the
rejection of the claim for consultancy fees was dismissed. N450 was awarded as
costs to the Respondents. Defendants/Appellants have appealed further to this
Court. The crux of the matter in this application is the objection by the
Applicants/Respondents that this court has no jurisdiction to consider the
points of law raised in the court below having been raised for the first time
in this court. The Apex Court held that the point the appellants are seeking
leave to raise is from the record of proceedings and therefore not a new matter
involving original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court and on that basis,
over-ruled the objection by the Respondent to the Appellants' application for
leave to argue fresh points not raised in the court below.
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