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September 17, 2018 9:36 am
"Clearly from the record of appeal, it can be seen that the Claimant filed a Reply to
the Respondents Statement of Defence (see pages 15-16 of record of appeal).
However an effective joinder of issue is not achieved by general denial. See EKE v.
OKWARANYIA & ORS (2001) 12 NWLR PT. 726 p. 181, OKONKWO v. C.C.B. (NIG) PLC
(2003) 8 NWLR (PT 822) 347.
?The serious averment in the statement of Defence to the effect that the Claimant
and his father were present at the time of the auction and that they did not raise
any objection (see paragraph 16 of the statement of Defence) were merely generally
denied under paragraph 1 of the Reply to the statement of Defence.
This is not effective denial in my respectful view. This is why I hold that inspite of the
error of his Lordship on the filing of the reply to the statement of Defence by
Claimant the rightness of the decision of the learned trial Judge is not affected."
Per AWOTOYE, J.C.A IN EZEKWERE v. OKIKECITATION: (2018) LPELR-45012(CA)
