The position in the short, was that the plaintiffs were a registered Trade Union under the Trade Union Decree 1973; that the plaintiffs properly took two actions in the High Court, Kaduna, on 30th November 1977 and 6th January 1978 which actions were consolidated; that the action were heard and judgment given on 12th October 1978; that by a decree which was promulgated on 15th August 1978, the certificate of registration of the plaintiffs was cancelled and the cancellation made to have retrospective effect from 3rd August 1977, that is to say, to cover the dates 30th November 1977 and 6th January 1978 when the plaintiffs took the two actions.

Unless therefore the Amending Decree of 1978 was held to be null and void by reason of constitution invalidity, the judgment of the High Court given in favour of the plaintiffs on the 12th October 1978 was a judgment given in favour of a non-existent person, a juris non persona.

As it turned out, neither the Kaduna High Court, in its elaborate and other wise well reasoned judgment based on the 1973 and 1976 Decrees, made any reference to the Amending Decree of 1978, nor did the parties draw the Court’s attention to its existence. It was indeed an oversight and therefore the judgment was given per incuriam. Again neither before the Federal Court of Appeal nor here before us, nor indeed in their brief, did the appellants raise any issue as to the validity of the 1978 Amending Decree. The power of the Federal Government to promulgate the 1978 Decree was not challenged. The retrospective nature of the enactment was not called into question.