₦airaland Forum

adaobi123: Shes hot though

gluv01: She isn't of 'em. But she's sure good to go, at least not like our Genevieve who went south a long time ago. And then diversified to the East and West. She's currently E,W, and S while Wunmi likes the Northern Area and hopes to reside there for as long as possible.

kbdrim: Me thinks KIM K used Ray J to climb up there..Now Ray J wants to use her to climb back to relevance

sweetcheecks: Its either you are a toddler or have baried your head deep in sand Nigerians are horrible people who would do.anything for money atleast outside Nigeria I do not know inside of Nigeria. Having said that not all og them but 99% of them.

PetroDollaz: you'll be suprised 2 see me use liberian or s.leonean expressions.am I under their influence?no

Gooogle: This is the best I have read in a while. They think everybody is dumb like them. They should give us the paper work, atleast we can read

Gooogle: This is the best I have read in a while. They think everybody is dumb like them. They should give us the paper work, atleast we can read

Venchy: WHY ARE YOU AND YOUR CABAL SO AGGRESSIVE, YOU LOTS SEEMS OPINIONATED, THIS IS A PLATFORM TO EXPRESS YOUR PINION AND NOT INSULTING PEOPLE IN YOUR RESPONSE.

Typical way of Nigerian leaders, always one way traffic and no side roads or exit, clearly you lots are agent to the CROOKS in government taken Nigerians for granted, We'll expose you all in no time with the power of Technology.

I can't understand what you guys meant by "improvement" when there's no SOAP in the toilet at MM, this is very dangerous to both working in the country and foreigners, I think this where the so called IMPROVEMENT should start for passengers conveniences.

claycares: I don’t really like it when you appear to insult people on forums. We are meant to solve issues in forums. And you don’t have to be negatively aggressive all the time.

This post will be quite lengthy and as I said before there’s a long chain of precedents to guide us here. I’m not at home now, so I’ll make do with my previous written arguments in court with similar issue. I’ll add more cases when I get home.

Although there is no direct pronouncement on the issue of State of (Lagos) by an appellate court in Nigeria. I don’t know of any for now. However, there are lots of cases to bind the courts to favour ‘Lagos State’ as against ‘State of Lagos’. Unless the appellate court is willing to overrule itself on this.

Response
1. The Constitution referred to the states in s.3 as States of the Federation and not State of Lagos.

2. By convention, these federating units (entities) in Nigeria have always used the word state in addition to and at the end of their names. Why the sudden change and would that help our law?

3. What then is the position of the law as to discrepancies in names of juristic persons whether natural or artificial? To answer this question, we have to embark on a voyage to case law.

Supreme Court decision on natural persons
In Esenowo v. Ukpong (1996) 6 NWLR (Pt.608) 611, there was disparity in the name of the Appellant who is a Medical Practitioner and the name in the register of the Medical Council. The name with which the Appellant was operating was stated as “Dr. E.J. Esenowo”, while the name on the register of the Medical and Dental Council was stated as “Dr. J.E. Esenowo.” In rejecting the argument that the two names are the same, the Supreme Court held at page 621, paragraphs B-D as follows:

“… the gravamen of this appeal was that the Plaintiff signed Exhibit P and P1 as “Dr. E.J. Esenowo” whereas the name listed in the 1980 Nigerian Medical Register reads “Dr. J.E. Esenowo”. Ordinarily, there is a world of difference in the arrangement of the initials listed in Exhibit E and those stated in Exhibit P and P1 by the Plaintiff… Clearly, there was need to furnish some lucid explanation otherwise it would be unacceptable to accede, by the judgment of the trial Judge, that it will be too simplistic to hold that the name “Dr. E.J. Esenowo” is the same as “Dr. J.E. Esenowo.”

Put pointedly, “State of Lagos” is not a person known to law at present and as such, cannot be a victim of crime or enforce one. It does not have a standi. The kernel of this argument is that the ‘State of (Lagos)’ has NEVER been given judicial pronouncement in our case law but Lagos State has been pronounced upon.

Court of Appeal on corporate entities (artificial entities)
This is the category where States fall in. The law with respect to proper names of corporate entities, be it corporation sole or corporation aggregate is even stricter, as no corporate entity can validly act outside the name with which the entity is registered or incorporated. The courts have recognized this point and have in several cases reiterated this principle over and over again. Once there is such alteration in the name of the party in a judicial proceeding, such has always been treated as being a fundamental defect which renders the entire proceedings a nullity. In Fagbola v. Titilayo Plastic Ind. Ltd. (2005) 2 NWLR (Pt.909) 1 at 19-20, paragraphs F-A, Murtaka-Coomassie, JCA, stated the principle as follows:

“The circumstances of the appointment of the receiver/manager in this case are quite in doubt and not properly made and the illusory position of the different names. These cannot be termed irregularities. They are fundamental defects. In other words, the whole affairs surrounding the appointment of the receiver/manager were shrouded in confusion and uncertainty, making me to believe that those defects were fundamental which cannot be readily cured.…In the case at hand, the name on the originating process is “Simon Fadeyibi” while on the one said to be appointed as a receiver is “Simon Ololade Fadeyibi.” (underlining supplied)

Similarly, in the more recent case of Umar v. W.G.G. (Nig) Ltd. (2007) 7 NWLR (Pt.1032) 117, the respondent which is an incorporated company was sued in respect of a contract in which its name appeared as White Gold Ginnery Limited as against its real name which is White Gold Ginnery Nigeria Limited. In striking out the action against the company as Respondent, Kekere-Ekun, JCA, held at page 142 paragraphs E-H as follows:

“By virtue of Section 37 of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, Cap 59, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 1990 the respondent in this appeal can only contract, sue and/or be sued in its corporate name: White Gold Ginnery Nigeria Ltd. As found by the learned trial Judge in his ruling there is no ambiguity regarding the fact that from the record before the court, all the transactions were between the two Appellants and a Company called White Gold Ginnery Ltd and not White Gold Ginnery Nigeria Ltd (the present respondent)…The facts before the courts were that the appellants based their application against the respondent, White Gold Ginnery Nigeria Ltd on documents executed between them and a company called White Gold Ginnery Ltd. I am unable to fault the finding of the learned trial judge that the appellants had failed to establish their locus to institute the proceedings against the respondent.”

Based on the foregoing, it is my submission that, the argument that says ‘(Lagos) State and ‘State of (Lagos)’ are the same is a bankrupt argument and an exercise in futility. Secondly, the law at present favours (Lagos) State as against State of (Lagos) because Lagos State has been pronounced on in a plethora of cases but State of Lagos has never seen the light of day. Thirdly, under the doctrine of stare decisis, the courts will let a sleeping dog to lie. Thus, the law as it now will not be disturbed. See Attorney-General Lagos State v. Eko Hotels Ltd. (2008) All FWLR (Pt. 398) 235; ADEJUMO AND ANOR v. GOVERNOR OF LAGOS STATE (citation omitted)

I hope this piece helps to resolve this issue.

Sincere 9gerian: You dont have to take sides with anybody. Speak the TRUTH as a Nigerian. Haters have intimidated some of you to the extent that some now post comments from a DEFENSIVE point.

We all use the roads, whether you support the govt or not, and even those who are indifference. Those who decide to tell lies, for whatever reason, will be confronted by those on ground

freecocoa: OP you spoilt whatever little sense you tried to make by saying that the man is always right, what kinda chauvinistic comment is that?

I pity your girlfriend if you have any, mscheew.