AKPABUYO LOCAL GOVERNMENT
V.
DUKE

EDOZIE, JCA (Delivering the Lead Judgment): The respondent and appellant herein were respectively plaintiff and defendant in suit No. C/157/ 99, wherein by a writ of summons dated 26th April 1999 and filed the same date at the Calabar High Court, the respondent, as per the claim endorsed thereon, claimed against the appellant thus:- “1. N150,000 due to the plaintiff for the execution of a contract to grade eight kilometres of rural road at Ifiong Nsung, Akpabuyo Local Government Area. 2. 21% interest on the contract sum from 1st August, 1993.”

It would appear that the respondent, by his counsel, filed a motion ex parte for the suit to be placed on the Undefended List and in the affidavit in support of that motion, the facts giving rise to the claim were outlined and for their brevity, they read as follows:- “I, Prince Effiom Duke, Male, Nigerian, businessman of No. 17 Iman Street, Calabar, hereby make oath and state that:-

I have the authority of my cousin, the plaintiff, to swear t…