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TOBI, JSC (Delivering the Leading Judgment): This appeal has so much to do with dates and all that. It is an appeal in which the appellant complains of denial of fair hearing on the ground that the learned trial Judge refused its application to arrest the judgment delivered on 9th May, 1996. It is a case where the appellant, who was the defendant, had not the time to present its defence in court but finally had all the time in the world to file a motion to arrest the judgment delivered on 9th May, 1996. Fair hearing is fair hearing when and if it is fair to both parties.
It is a case of libel. The respondent as plaintiff sued the defendant/the appellant, for libel. The plaintiff claimed ₦25,000,000.00 damages for libel published by the defendant in the Newswatch Magazine Volume 19, No. 11 of 14th March, 1994 at page 7 under the story titled FRUITS OF HIS LABOUR. The plaintiff also needed a perpetual injunction and he asked for it. The plaintiff was a former Inspector-General of Polic…