LADY COMFORT ANI V YWCA & ORS

CORAM

PARTIES

LADY COMFORT APPELLANTS

YWCA & ORS

RESPONDENTS 

AREA(S) OF LAW

SUMMARY OF FACTS

The Plaintiff/Appellant was re-elected president of the Registered Trustees of Young Women’s Christian Association of Nigeria (YWCA) to serve as its President for three (3) years. In the last year of the second tenure of the Plaintiff/Appellant, members of the said association discovered some financial irregularities in the Plaintiff/Appellant’s administration and set up a five-man committee to investigate the said allegations. The disciplinary body found the Plaintiff/Appellant culpable of the alleged financial irregularities/malpractices and submitted the report of its findings to the national council of the YWCA which culminated into the removal or impeachment of the Plaintiff/Appellant from office. Aggrieved by her removal as the President of the said body, the Plaintiff/Appellant instituted an action against the Respondents jointly and severally at the Federal High Court, Lagos Judicial Division contesting that the said disciplinarily committee which found her guilty was improperly constituted given the fact that a non-member of the said association was part of the said disciplinary committee contrary to the bye law to the constitution of the YWCA. The Plaintiff/Appellant’s suit was dismissed by the trial Court thus resulting in an appeal to the Court of Appeal.

HELD

Appeal Allowed

ISSUES

“Whether the learned trial Judge was right when he dismissed the Appellant’s claim after making a clear finding that the disciplinary committee was not properly constituted”.?

RATIONES DECIDENDI

WAIVER-CONCEPT OF A WAIVER

“The concept of waiver presupposes that the person who is to enjoy a benefit or who has a choice of more than one benefit voluntarily and intentionally decides to surrender or relinquish the right or benefit. Waiver must therefore be an express, deliberate and conscious or positive act, not something that is left to be assumed or presumed”. PER IKYEGH JCA

CONSTITUTION OF A REGISTERED ASSOCIATION-WHETHER COURTS CAN INTERFERE INTO THE MANNER A REGISTERED ASSOCIATION RUNS ITS CONSTITUTION

“The constitution of a voluntary registered association and the manner the registered association runs its constitution may sometimes be interfered with by the courts. The old English case of Dawkins v. Antrobus (1881 -1885) All ER 126 at 129 – 130 stated in the apt words of Brett, L.J., inter alia that :
“… The only question which a court can properly consider is whether the members of the club, under such circumstances, have acted ultra vires or not and it seems to me the only questions which a court can properly entertain for that purpose are whether anything has been done which is contrary to natural justice, although it is within the rules of the club – in other words, whether the rules of the club are contrary to natural justice; secondly, whether a person who has not condoned the matter, has been acted against contrary to the rules of the club; and thirdly, whether the decision of the club has been come to bona fide or not. Unless one of those charges can be made out by those who come before the court, the court has no power to interfere with what has been done. The court has no right, in my opinion, to consider whether what was done was right or not, or even, as a substantive question, whether what was decided was reasonable or not. The only question is whether it was done bona fide.” (My emphasis) PER IKYEGH JCA

CONSTITUTION OF A COMMITTEE- AN IMPROPER CONSTITUTION OF A DISCIPLINARY COMMITTEE CANNOT BE WAIVED

“Improper constitution of a body being an issue of the competence or vires of the body to embark on assignment given to it, it cannot be waived as it strikes at the substantive jurisdiction of the body to discharge the task assigned to it”. PER IKYEGH JCA

CASES CITED

Agbiti v. Nigerian Navy (2011) 4 NWLR (pt. 1236) 175 at 219,Ariori and Ors. v. Elemo and Ors. (1983) N.S.C.C. (Vol. 14) 1 at 8Dawkins v. Antrobus (1881 -1885) All ER 126 at 129 – 130Fasade v. Babalola (2003) 11 NWLR (pt. 830) 26,Madukolu and Anr. v. Nkemdilim (1962) All NLR (pt. 2) 582 at 587.Odofin v. Agu (1992) 3 NWLR (pt. 229) 350 at 369Okoro v. Nigerian Army Council (2000) 3 NWLR (pt. 647) 77 at 92 -93Onyia v. Oniah (1989) 2 SCNJ 120State v. Olatunji (2003) 14 NWLR (pt. 839) 138 at 161

STATUTES REFERRED TO

Constitution of the Registered Trustees of Young Women’s Christian Association of Nigeria (YWCA)

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