LEWIS, J.S.C. (Delivering the Leading Judgment):-On the 17th of June, 1970 we dismissed with 66 guineas costs the defendant's appeal from the ruling by Kazeem, Ag. J. (as he then was) of the 10th of May, 1967 in suit No. LD/498/66 in the Lagos High Court, and we now give our reasons for so doing.
The plaintiffs' writ originally claimed a declaration that:-
"(a) By virtue of the provisions in the Nigerian Railway Corporation Standard Conditions of Service Officers 1957 and subsequent amendments thereto the compulsory retiring age of the defendant remained 55 years subject only to the discretionary right of the Corporation to extend the said retiring age annually until the defendant attained the age of 60.
(b) The grant of any extension of time does not confer a legal right upon the defendant nor a duty upon the Corporation to keep the defendant in their service should any event arise that would justify relinquishing the defendant of his services to the Corporation.
(c) The defendant wa…