Respondent as Plaintiff, claimed against the Appellant and his father as Defendants jointly and severally.

"the sum of N342,000.00 being a friendly loan made to the Defendants in Lagos by the plaintiff at the Defendants request sometime in 1985 which said loan the Defendants have neglected, failed and/or refused to pay in spite of repeated demands by the Plaintiff."

The Respondent also claimed interest at the rate of 13 percentum on the said sum until judgment and thereafter at 6 per centum until the judgment shall have been satisfied.

At the time of filing the writ of summons for the said claim, on the 20th of February, 1987 the Respondent also filed a ten paragraph Statement of Claim.

There were two defendants at the trial. The 1st Defendant who is the father of the Appellant did not appeal in this matter. The 1st Defendant who was at all material time resident in Lagos was duly served with the writ of summons and the Statement of Claim, he filed a memorandum of appearance dated 18th March, 1987 and entered an appearance in the trial Court accordingly. The Appellant, who was the 2nd Defendant, was ordinarily resident in England at the material time. The Respondent therefore sought and obtained leave of the trial Court to serve him with the Court processes out of jurisdiction in England and he was duly served on the 13th of March, 1987.

The Appellant and the 1st Defendant thereafter failed to appear in court or file any Statement of Defence to the action and on the 2nd of July, 1987 the Respondent filed a motion on notice seeking the order of the trial Court to enter final judgment against the Appellant for failure to enter an appearance and to file a Statement of Defence and also as per his written admission of debt contained in the written acknowledgment dated 12th December, 1985.

The application was supported by a 13 paragraph affidavit sworn to by Waidi Kasali a law clerk in the Chambers of the Respondent's counsel.

Pleadings were ordered and duly filed and exchanged. The matter then went into a full trial at the end of which the learned trial Judge, Isua J. In a Judgment delivered on 22/2/96 entered Judgment in favour of the respondent in which she awarded him a total of N975, 115.00 as special and general damages for wrongfully depriving him of his right to contest the election.

The Appellant's counsel was then served with the motion papers. He thereafter filed a memorandum of appearance dated 6th July, 1987 and on the 9th of July, 1987 he also filed a counter affidavit of 7 paragraphs mainly challenging the jurisdiction of the trial court to hear the matter.

The motion was heard by the learned trial Judge on the 9th of October, 1987 and reserved ruling to the 4th of November, 1987 On the 4th November, 1987 in what we called "Judgment" and not "ruling", the learned trial Judge Adeniji J, found that he had jurisdiction to entertain the matter and he also proceeded to enter judgment for the Respondent against the Appellant for the amount claimed.

Appellant appealed.