JOHN INYANG OKORO, J.S.C. (Delivering the Leading Judgment): This is an appeal against the judgment of the Court of Appeal, Calabar Division delivered on 5th of December, 2005. In the said judgment, the lower court, in a unanimous decision allowed the respondent's (as appellants) appeal against the judgment of the High Court of Cross River State, and dismissed the appellant's cross appeal. I shall briefly state the facts which gave rise to this appeal.
The appellant as plaintiff sued the defendants (now respondents) over a petition written by the 1st to 5th defendants in which he claimed that they falsely and maliciously published defamatory material concerning him. The alleged offensive publication was contained in a letter titled "Protest by the Big Qua, the Idundu and the Ediba Clans relating to claims to Ediba Swamp and Marsh Lands" addressed to HRH Ndidem U. Iso, the Ndidem of the Quas. The said petition was admitted in evidence as exhibit D.
The petition was sparked off by a fra…