"Starting from Respondent's Grounds (a) & (b) of the Preliminary objection, it is not in dispute in this Appeal that the originating process which initiated Suit No. M/125/2005 from which the order appealed against emanated was signed by G.C. Anyafulu & Associates which is not a Legal Practitioner known to law. This means that suit No. M/125/2005 was not initiated by due process of law. In OKAFOR VS. NWEKE (2007) 10 NWLR (pt. 1043) 525. Onnoghen, CJN., spoke for the Supreme Court and said that only the person whose name appears on the roll is the person entitled to practice as a Legal Practitioner. As J.O. Okocha SAN & Co., was not regarded as a Legal Practitioner in that case for the purposes of initiating proceedings. So it is that G.C. Anyafulu and Associates could not be regarded as a Legal Practitioner for the purposes of initiating proceedings even in this case. See: SLB CONSORTIUM LTD VS. NNPC (2011) LPELR-3074 (2011) 9 NWLR (PT. 1252) 317 (2011) ALL FWLR (PT. 583) 1902.

In that case, the Respondent raised the issue of jurisdiction for the first time in the Supreme Court. The Court upheld the view that Adewale Adesokan & Co. is not a Legal Practitioner known to law. The result is that suit No. M/125/2005 could not be said to have come before the Court initiated by due process of law and upon the fulfillment of any condition precedent to the exercise of jurisdiction in the Court below and a fortiori in this Honourable Court. The applicable rule as rightly suggested by the learned counsel for the Respondent is if the foundation be weak nothing put on it can stand as something cannot be placed on nothing. see: MACFOY vs. U.A.C. LTD (1961) 3 WLR 405."

Per OWOADE, J.C.A IN WEMA SECURITIES & FINANCE PLC v. DEJEZE (NIG) LTD CITATION: (2018) LPELR-43516(CA)