SULEIMAN GALADIMA, JSC (Delivering the Leading Judgment): This appeal is against the judgment of Court of Appeal, Ibadan Division, delivered on the 9th day of April, 2003, which confirmed the judgment of Oyo State High Court delivered on the 30th day of September, 1997.
The facts relevant to the case are simple. The respondent as plaintiff complained of a libelous publication against him by the appellant as defendant, in a letter dated 12th August, 1984 written and sent to the then Military Governor of Oyo State, Colonel Oladayo Popoola admitted as Exhibit "p7" at the trial, pleaded in paragraph 3 of the statement of claim dated 18th March, 1992. The pivot upon which the respondent rested his case reads thus:
"The certificate which he carries about now was forged and was not the certificate issued to him just as Olapade Agoro claims that he has B.Sc (Engineering) and MSc. (Engineering) when in actual fact he has never seen the inside of any university anywhere in the world. His academ…