2
Service of the originating process was effected on the
defendant on the 27th of September, 2012 but the defendant did not
file his defence. The action is thus left undefended.
The facts of the case is that the Plaintiff as the managing agent
of the premises known as Plot 138 Gwarimpa 1 District, Abuja (a
three bedroom apartment) entered into a yearly tenancy agreement
with the defendant commencing from 29th day of March, 2010 to 29th
day of March, 2011 at a yearly rent of N900,000.00 which the
Plaintiff paid. After the expiration of the tenancy, the defendant did
not renew the tenancy nor vacate the premises.
On the 25th of
January 2012, the Plaintiff extended a period of four months to
enable the defendant to meet his obligation to the Plaintiff which he
also failed. On the 24th of April, 2012, the Plaintiff served on the
defendant a seven days notice. Shortly before the institution of this
suit, the defendant vacated the premises.
To establish its claim, the Plaintiff led evidence on its pleaded
facts and tendered Exhibits PW1 ‘A’ – ‘C’. These are the tenancy
agreement, a demand letter and the 7 days notice. As I said before,
the defendant did not file his statement of defence. Although he was
properly served with the process, he chose not to enter appearance
nor file his pleading. The law is settled that under the circumstance,
the court is entitled to deem every allegation of fact contained in the
statement of claim as established even without further proof against
the defendant. See Arimi v. Bashorun & Ors. (1979)1 FNR 226. In
the case of Okoebor v. Police Council (2003)12 NWLR (pt.834) 5 SC
11, the Supreme Court per Niki Tobi JSC (as he then was ) said: “The
basic principle of law is that where a defendant fails to file a defence,