<p><strong> IKONGBEH, JCA: (Delivering the Lead Judgment) </strong><em> : </em> On 28/02/97, P. E. Ebeku, J., of the Bori Judicial Division of the Rivers State High Court, sitting at Port Harcourt, on the application of the plaintiff, which was stiffly opposed by the defendants, entered what he called “a consent judgment”. A According to him, the judgment was “in accordance with the terms of settlement signed and filed by the parties and their counsel on 30/11/95”. The two surviving of the three defendants, who, together with the deceased, were the plaintiffs in a cross-action, consolidated with main one, have appealed to this court, requesting us to resolve the issues:- “5.1 Whether the learned trial Judge was, given the nature and circumstances of the making of the purported terms of settlement on 30/11/95, right in holding that the said terms of settlement was valid, subsisting and binding on the parties in the consolidated suits leading to this appeal. 5.2 Whether if the answer to issue 1 is in the affirmativ…</p>