The Service Press Ltd & Ors V. Nnamdi Azikiwe (1951)

LawGlobal Hub Judgment Report – West African Court of Appeal

Action for libel—No evidence led to prove that the person mentioned in libellous publication was the Plaintiff—Assertion by Plaintiff that defence filed admitted by necessary implication that publication referred to Plaintiff rejected.

Facts

The publication complained of referred to Ben Azikiwe, whereas the name of the respondent-plaintiff was Nnamdi Azikiwe. The respondent failed to call evidence to prove that Ben Azikiwe referred to in the article was the same person as Nnamdi Azikiwe. His Counsel, however, argued that the first appellant had admitted in the defence he filed that the respondent was the man referred to as Ben Azikiwe.

The pleadings contained no specific denial that the article referred to the respondent, but paragraph 1 stated that the defendants deny each and every allegation of fact contained in the plaintiff’s particulars of claim as if each had been separately set out and specifically traversed.

Held

That paragraph 1 of the defence was not merely a general denial but purported to deny each and every allegation of fact in the particulars of claim. This paragraph reinforced other paragraphs of the defence that might prove faulty or defective. Taking the defence as a whole it contained no admission that the respondent was the same man as Ben Azikiwe. The respondent had therefore failed to prove that he was the person libelled and his action should have been dismissed.

Appeal allowed.