The Magistrate Court Sitting in Evboriaria, Benin City on Friday delivered judgement in favour of a Benin based Bishop, Osadolor Ochei in suit filed before it by the claimant (Ochei) against the United Bank of Africa (UBA) in 2017.
The claimant, Bishop Osadolor Ochei has through his counsel, Abel Amasowomwan, Esq. filed the case before the court, alleging amongst others illegal deduction of money (N20,000) from his account with the bank and defamation of character.
During trial, the bank through its lawyer had argued that the illegal deduction was as a result of system glitch arising from network service.
But delivering judgement in the Suit No. MOR/50/2017, the judge, Chief Magistrate M. N. Mosoe heard that though, the respondent admitted that the said amount of money was actually deducted from the claimant’s account which he owned with the bank, but could not prove beyond reasonable doubts on why the said money was deducted without the owner’s (Bishop Osadolor Ochei) consent, describing it as illegal.
The court therefore declared judgement in favour of the claimant and awarded a N100,000 as damage against the respondent (UBA).
On the issue of defamation of character as alleged in the suit by the claimant, the court held that there were no evidences and witnesses to substantiate the claimant’s claim and therefore struck it out.
Commenting on the judgment, Bishop Osadolor Ochei expressed satisfaction with the outcome, describing it as a welcome development in the judicial system.
He said: “As a customer who came to do transaction, which resulted in the bank staff calling me a thief, I could not have pin-pointed another customer in the scene who witnessed it to come and bear me witness at the court.
“That is why there were no witnesses to back the claim of defamation of character.
“But so far, the judgment is a good one,” Bishop Ochei declared.
Also commenting, counsel to the claimant, Barr. Abel Amasowomwan, described the judgment as a well researched one.
According to him, “The claimant is a clergyman. So, we could not have lied by sponsoring witnesses to testify in the court.”
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