The Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal filed by an Estate Surveyor and Valuer, Philip Ojo, against SDV Nigeria Limited and another over dispute arising from the sale of an estate in Lagos State.
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The apex court, in the lead judgment delivered by Justice Obande Ogbuinya and unanimously upheld by other justices on the panel, dismissed the appeal for lack in merit.
“On the whole, having resolved the live issues against the appellant, the destiny of the appeal is obvious. It is bereft of any morsel of merit and deserves the reserved penalty of dismissal. Consequently, I dismiss the appeal. Parties shall bear their respective costs incurred in the prosecution and defence of the doomed appeal,” he held.
Justice Ogbuinya, who agreed with the arguments of the lawyers to the company, Charles Candide-Johnson, SAN of Candide-Johnson Law Practice and Emmanuel Ekpenyong Esq of Fred-Young & Evans LP, upheld the decision of the Appeal Court in Lagos, which vacated the trial court’s judgment.
Ojo, trading under the name and style of P.K. Ojo & Co, had, in the appeal number: SC/716/2016, sued SDV Nigeria Limited and SCOA Nigeria Limited as 1st and 2nd respondents.
The appellant, in the suit filed by his counsel, Chief A.A. Aribisala, SAN, had prayed the Supreme Court to probe into the rightness of the decision of the Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos delivered on April 22, 2016 in appeal number: CA/L/444/2014, wherein it set aside the decision of the High Court of Lagos State, in suit marked: LD/1279/2007, delivered on the December 24, 2013.
Ojo had alleged that he sourced for property known as Plots 9, 10 and 11 Awodiora Industrial Estate, Kirikiri, Lagos, measuring 20 acres, for purchase by SDV Nigeria Ltd (1st respondent) through its agent, Mr Adebola Adejobi.
He alleged that the property, which was owned by SCOA Nigeria Ltd (2nd respondent), was eventually purchased by the 1st respondent behind him without payment of his professional agency commission.
Against this development, Ojo dragged the respondents before a Lagos High Court via a writ of summons filed on October 16, 2007, and an amended statement of claim, filed on the July 31, 2009.
He sought a declaration that he was entitled to the payment of agency commission or fee from SDV Nigeria Ltd based on the charges by the Nigerian Institute of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV), having introduced the estate to the company in the course of his business as a professional estate surveyor.
The claimant sought the sum of $1, 250, 000.00 U.S. dollars or its naira equivalent of N161, 250, 000.00 at the exchange rate of N129 to a dollar, and interest thereon at the rate of 21 per cent per annum from the date of the commencement of the action until the final liquidation of the judgment debt.
Ojo also sought the sum of N23, 620, 000 as special and general damages suffered by him as a result of SDV Nigerian Ltd’s refusal to pay the said agency commission, among other reliefs.
SDV Nigeria Ltd, represented at the trial court by Candide-Johnson SAN filed a statement of defence wherein it denied any liability while SCOA Nigeria Ltd neither filed any defence nor represented in the case.
The trial court, on December 24, 2013, granted Ojo’s claim in part and dissatisfied with the judgment, SDV Nigeria Ltd approached the Appeal Court and in a unanimous decision, the appellate court, on April 22, 2016, set aside the trial court decision and held that, further to Section 31 (6) of the Companies and Allied Matters Act, change of the name of SDV Nigeria Ltd does not affect its legal status to maintain the appeal.
The appellant (Ojo), peeved by the Appeal Court judgment, filed an appeal at the apex court, seeking an order vacating the appellate court judgment and restoring the Lagos State High Court decision.
Ojo urged the Supreme Court to hold that SDV Nigeria Ltd, upon its change of name, lacks the legal status to sustain the appeal.
Justice Ogbuinya, in the lead judgement delivered on May 23, 2025, and its certified true copy made available to newsmen on Tuesday in Abuja, upheld the decision of Court of Appeal.
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