Durbar Hotel: Court throws out Kaduna govt appeal

The Appeal Court in Kaduna has dismissed an appeal brought before it by the Kaduna State government to set aside the ruling of a state High Court presided over by Justice H. A. L. Balogun over the ownership of Durbar Hotel Plc.

The lead counsel to the family of the late Head of State, General Sani Abacha, the owners of the Durbar hotel, Dr. Reuben O. Atabo (SAN) had joined the state governor as 1st defendant, the Attorney General and Commissioner of Justice as 2nd defendant, Kaduna State Urban Planning and Development Authority (KASUPDA) as 3rd defendant and the Kaduna State Geographic Information Service (KADGIS) as the 4th defendant.

However, the lead Counsel to the Kaduna State government, Mr. A.U. Mustapha (SAN) had pointed out that the respondent had earlier addressed 3rd defendant as Kaduna State Urban Planning and Development Agency, saying that the defendant is a non juristic entity and thus same cannot be cured by name correction or amendment.

Recall that on April 4, 2022, Justice H.A.L Balogun had ruled that the mistake in the name of the 3rd defendant was a misnomer that can be cured by a simple order of the court to correct same, hence it did not mislead anyone as to who was sued and therefore it did not occasion any miscarriage of justice.

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But, not satisfied with the ruling of the lower court, the defendants through their counsel sought and obtained the leave of the Court of Appeal to file a notice of appeal on May 19, 2022.

The defendants in their brief of argument urged the Court of Appeal to resolve the issues in their favour on the grounds that “The respondent did not serve the 3rd and 4th defendants with the requisite pre-action notice.”  

Also, the respondent in a brief of argument urged the Court of Appeal to dismiss the appeal of the defendants and affirm the ruling of the lower court on grounds, “That the respondent had served the 3rd and 4th defendants with the requisite pre-action notice before joining them as parties to the action leading to this instant appeal.

Consequently, the three justices of the Court of Appeal, while delivering their Judgement, dismissed the appeal brought before them by the defendants, saying the days of technical justice are over, and wondered why the defendants have failed to file their defence to the respondent’s claim for a period of over three years.