SENATOR M. A. M. ARUWA V. MRS. W. A. ABDULKADIR

MOHAMMED, JCA (Delivering the Lead Judgment): The appellant in this appeal is a serving Senator in the National Assembly of the Federal

Republic of Nigeria while the respondent is a private Legal Practitioner based here in Kaduna. The dispute between the parties arose over the payment of professional or legal fees of N1.2 million charged by the respondent for conducting or prosecuting the appellant’s case as respondent in appeal No. CA/K/EPNA/5/99 sometime in June, 1999. The judgment in that appeal was delivered by this court on 3/6/99 and on 4/6/99 the respondents as counsel to the appellant forwarded her Bill of Charges dated the same day 4/ 6/99 to the appellant for settlement. About 3 months after sending the bill, the respondent sent a reminder dated 6/9/99 to the appellant again calling on the appellant to settle the bill within 7 days otherwise legal action would be instituted against him in court to recover the fees.

As the result of the appellant’s failure to settle the fees,…