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By his General Form of Complaint dated and filed on 23rd February, 2012 the claimant seeks the following reliefs: 1. The sum of N840,000.00 being salary arrears for the period of 3 years and 10 months within which the claimant worked for the defendant without payment. 2. The claimant claim 10% interest on the judgment sum until the judgment is liquidated. 3. The sum of N3,000,000.00 only as general damages for non-payment of the claimant’s salary for the period of 3 years and 10 months. 4. The cost of this action. Filed together with the Complaint is the Statement of Facts, List of Documents, List of Witnesses and Witness Statement on Oath of the claimant. In turn, the defendant filed its Memorandum of Appearance, Statement of Defence, List of Documents to be relied upon, List of Witnesses and Written Statement on Oath of the Defendant’s Witness dated 24th September, 2012 but filed on 30th October, 2012. The claimant’s case is that he is a Journalist and resides at Bukuru, Plateau State. That at all time material to this action he was a staff of the defendant Publishers of National Newspaper and worked as a Freelance Correspondent and a Reporter in charge of Plateau State. That sometime in October, 2006 he was employed as a staff of the defendant as a Freelance Correspondent on a monthly allowance of N10,000.00 and he pleaded the letter of appointment. That in March, 2008 his appointment was regularized and he was placed on a monthly salary of N25,000.00. That upon regularization of his appointment he became the News Reporter in charge of Plateau State. That he resigned his appointment in the defendant’s company on the 27th July, 2010 after a period of 46 months (i.e. 3 years and 10 months). That between October, 2006 and March, 2008 before his appointment was regularized he was entitled to the sum of N170,000.00 as salary at N10,000.00 per month representing his salary for 17 months of work without pay. That within the said period he received from the defendant the sum of N30,000.00 being his salary for the months of December, 2006, September and November, 2007 respectively leaving a balance of N140,000.00. He pleaded further that his salary for the months of October and November, 2006, January to August and December 2007, January and February 2008, that is a period of 13 months representing the sum of N130,000.00 was not paid by the defendant. That between March, 2008 to July, 2010 when he resigned his appointment, that is a period of two years and 4 months the defendant owed him the sum of N700,000.00 at N25,000.00 per month as unpaid salary. That every effort he made to get the defendant to pay him his salary arrears totaling N840,000.00 for the period under review proved abortive and not even his visit to the defendant’s Corporate Headquarters at Ikeja, Lagos where he was treated like a beggar sometime in 2011 could not persuade the defendant’s management to pay him the arrears of salary. That when all efforts to get the defendant to pay him failed he consulted his lawyer L.E. Anyia & Co. to demand for his unpaid arrears of salary form the defendant. He added that his lawyer indeed wrote a letter of demand dated 12th March, 2010 to the defendant demanding for the sum of N740,000.00 to be paid to him through his lawyer but the defendant refused or neglected to reply the said letter of demand. That between March, 2010 when he wrote a letter of resignation and 27th July, 2010 when his resignation took effect he was entitled to the sum of N100,000.00 at N25,000.00 per month bringing the total sum the defendant owed him to N840,000.00. He added that when the defendant did not respond to his lawyer’s letter of demand one year and six months after it was written his counsel wrote the defendant a reminder letter of demand and the defendant once again refused to reply the said letter. He pleaded that the refusal of the defendant to pay him the accumulated salary damnified him and put him in a very tight and embarrassing situation as he could not meet up with his financial responsibilities to his family like medicament, food among other pressing needs to the extent of his children being withdrawn from their various schools for inability to pay their fees. That despite repeated demands, the defendant has refused to pay him the said sum of N840,000.00 which has caused him a lot of pains and embarrassment. Thereafter he repeated his reliefs. The defendant reacted by admitting paragraphs 1 and 2 of the Statement of Facts but denied paragraphs 3 to 22 of the Statement of Facts. On paragraph 3 of the Statement of Facts the defendant admitted the said paragraph to the extent that it offered the claimant employment as State (Plateau State) Correspondent with effect from 1st March, 2008 via a letter dated 4th March, 2008 to which the claimant declined by absconding immediately without any justifiable reason as he never acted in the capacity he was employed or performed his duties in line with the terms of the employment. That it never appointed the claimant as its Freelance Correspondent with a monthly allowance of N10,000.00 at any point in time. In response to paragraphs 5, 6, 7 and 8 of the Statement of Facts, the defendant states that it never regularized the claimant appointment from a Freelance Correspondent to a full fledged staff as it never appointed him as its Freelance Correspondent whatsoever. The defendant reacted to paragraphs 9 and 10 of the Statement of Facts that it only paid the sum of N30,000.00 as a result of the three news contributions the claimant made to the National Daily Newspaper. That as a result of immense reports/news it receives from Freelance Journalists for information by way of surveys or articles which as a matter of practice the defendant gives a honorarium based on contributions given over a period of time to the National Daily Newspaper. That the claimant declined his employment by absconding immediately without any justifiable reason as he never acted in the capacity he was employed or performed his duties nor reported to the News Editor or any officer of the defendant in line with the terms of the offer of employment. That it never received the letter of demand or any letter whatsoever to that effect and the defendant only saw the letter of demand for the very first time as an annexure to this Complaint number NICN/JOS/9/2012. That it did not put the claimant in any embarrassing situation or pain in any way. That it does not owe the claimant any accumulated salary arrears. The defendant states that it never appointed the claimant as Freelance Correspondent at any given time and hence could not have given him any appointment letter to that effect. That it did not receive any letter of demand, letter of resignation and a reminder to the letter of demand. It urged the court to dismiss the claims of the claimant in its entirety. Trial in this case commenced on 1st November, 2012. The claimant testified in-chief as CW1. He adopted his statement on oath as his evidence in this case. Under cross examination, CW1 stated that he was employed as a Freelance Correspondent first. That before March, 2008 he was a Freelance Correspondent for National Daily Newspaper in Plateau State. That between 4th March, 2008 and 27th July, 2010 he was working for National Daily Newspaper as a full time staff of the organization. That he was given a letter of regularization with effect from March 5th, 2008 with a salary of N25,000.00 per month a letter he claimed is before the court. He added that he was employed as Freelance Correspondent by the National Daily Newspaper but did not plead the employment letter of the Freelance employment because it was a verbal transaction which metamorphosed to full time employment. That when he was found employable that he was given a full time employment. That it is not true that the defendant gave only honorarium to its Freelance Reporters who it feels are of good reportage. That he was given an offer of employment from 4th March, 2008 and that there was no interview before he was given letter of employment because his hard work spoke for him. That he read and signed the letter of employment. That as a Reporter in Plateau State his duty was to cover and report news events in Plateau State and also solicited for advert for the defendant. That he was also dragged into distribution of the newspaper for the defendant and did errands distributing letters for the company. The CW1 stated that he was Advert Officer reporting to the Head of Advert in the organization and the adverts he was able to secure he paid into the company’s account and remitted the receipts for publication. He added that the size of the advert he collected the money from the clients lodged into the company’s First Bank account, scanned the pay slip and sent it to Advert department for their attention and necessary action. That one of the advert was brought in by Mr. Armstrong. That he reported to the News Editor from time to time and whenever he calls him he give him the report of events in Jos. That there was always his contribution from Jos. He added that he worked and sent reports from his three months probation but was not confirmed. That it is not true that shortly after his employment he abandoned his duties, that he was always in touch with the News Editor of the company. There was no re-examination and the claimant closed his case. The defendant called one Hastings Ogboghodo as its witness who testified as DW1 in this case. He adopted his witness statement on oath made on 24/9/2012 as his evidence in-chief in this case. Under cross-examination DW1 stated that he is the Administrative Manager of the defendant. That the defendant has policies governing the organization. That the defendant normally gives its employees employment letter. That the defendant was employed with a letter of employment dated 4/3/2008. That by the letter of employment the claimant was to be confirmed after three months. He added that the defendant did not write a disclaimer notice against the claimant after he absconded. That the claimant wrote a demand letter to the defendant. He stated that the claimant wrote a resignation letter to the defendant. That the defendant did not terminate the claimant’s employment since 2008 neither did it write him a termination letter. There was no re-examination. The defendant closed its case. The parties were ordered to file their respective Final Written Address in accordance with the rules of this court. Learned Counsel formulated one issue for determination that is, whether the claimant has proved his case to be entitled to judgment in this matter. He submitted that the claimant was a staff of the defendant publishers of National Newspaper as a Freelance Correspondent and a Reporter in charge of Plateau State and that his employment was regularized where he worked assiduously until he resigned. He referred the court to the claimant’s letter of employment and submitted that the claimant gave evidence to show how he worked assiduously for the defendant for the period of 3 years and 10 months but was never paid by the defendant. That the claimant also gave evidence that as a Freelance Correspondent he was on a monthly allowance of N10,000.00 until 4th March, 2008 when his appointment was regularized and his salary fixed at N25,000.00 per month. That between October, 2006 and March, 2008 before the claimant’s appointment was regularized he was entitled to the sum of N170,000.00 as salary at N10,000.00 per month representing his salary for 17 months of work without pay. That within the period mentioned above, the claimant received from the defendant the sum of N30,000.00 as his salary for the months of December, 2006, September and November, 2007 respectively, leaving a balance of N140,000.00 his salary for October, November, 2006, January to August and December, 2007, January and February, 2008, that is 13 months in the sum of N130,000.00 unpaid by the defendant. Learned Counsel added that between March, 2008 to July, 2010 when the claimant resigned his appointment, that is, two years and four months the defendant owed him the sum of N700,000.00 at N25,000.00 per month as unpaid salary. That the claimant having voluntarily resigned from the defendant’s employment is entitled to his unpaid salary which the defendant has refused to pay and urged the court to so hold. He submitted that a cursory look at the claimant’s letter of employment dated 4th March, 2008 it was stated that the claimant’s probationary period will be three months after which he will be confirmed or the probation extended. He added that assuming but not conceding that the claimant absconded as contended by the defendant, it ought to terminate the claimant’s employment but that was not the case. That it is trite law that parties to a contract are bound by the terms of the contract to buttress this point, he relied on the cases of Vadi (Nig) Ltd v. G.N.I.C Ltd [2007] 14 NWLR (pt. 1055) p. 584, Afrotec v. MIA [2000] 15 NWLR (pt. 692) p. 730. He urged the court to give effect to the terms of the contract of employment between the claimant and the defendant. He submitted that from the evidence before the court it is clear that the defendant never terminated the claimant’s employment. That the defendant cannot now blow hot and cold at one breathe. He referred to paragraph 4 of the statement of defence where the defendant stated that the claimant absconded after he was employed and cross-examination of DW1 where he stated that the defendant never terminated the claimant’s appointment. He submitted that the defendant contradicted itself and he urged the court to hold that the defendant is being economical with the truth in this matter. He also urged the court to hold that the purported termination of the contract of employment between the claimant and defendant is null and void the defendant having breached a fundamental condition of the terms of the contract of employment. He referred the court to the case of Longe v. First Bank of Nigeria Plc [2010] 20 NLLR (pt. 57) p. 277. On the claim for general damages, Learned Counsel referred the court to paragraph 18 of his Statement on Oath and further submitted that once there is evidence of injury or discomfort the claimant is entitled to general damages. He referred the court to the case of Bodi v. Agyo [2003] FWLR (pt. 156) p. 815. He added tht there is evidence of the claimant’s paid and discomfort inclusive of his family members as a result of defendant’s refusal to pay him his salaries. He finally urged the court to grant the reliefs of the claimant. Defendant’s counsel raised lone issue for determination, that is, having regard to the state of pleadings and the evidence before this court whether the claimant has established his claim on the balance of probabilities to entitle him to the reliefs sought. It is important to observe at this point that the Final Written Address filed in this case by the defendant does not have the opening argument but started from paragraph 16 of the defendant’s argument. Therefore, paragraphs 10 to 15 of the defendant’s argument is not before the court. Be that as it may, Learned Counsel argued that the letter of 4th March, 2008 ought to be expunged from the record as same is clearly inadmissible. That this is the position even where such inadmissible evidence was admitted with or without objection. He relied on the case of Shanu v. Afribank Nig. Plc [2003] FWLR (pt. 136) p. 285. He urged the court to expunge the letter of 4th March, 2008 for being irrelevant and inadmissible in law, that it was tendered to establish a non-pleaded fact and it goes to no issue. Learned Counsel argued that the claimant contended in paragraph 4, 8, 9 and 10 if Statement of Facts that he was employed by the defendant in October, 2006 even though he pleaded a letter in that regard but he did not tender any such letter. He argued further that the pleadings in those paragraphs are deemed abandoned and should be struck out. That it is trite law that facts pleaded on which no evidence is led are deemed abandoned, citing the case of Akande v. Adisa [2012] 15 NWLR (pt. 1324) p. 538. Counsel also cited paragraph 5 of the Statement of Facts where the claimant claimed that his employment was regularized on 4th March, 2008 and submitted that there is no single evidence of such letter of regularization. He submitted that the said pleading is deemed abandoned and urged the court to strike it out. Learned Counsel argued that the claimant claimed in his pleading that he was employed in October, 2006 while the letter which he tendered in evidence showed that he was employed in March, 2008 clearly amounting to leading evidence which is at variance with pleadings. He argued further that this is not allowed in law. He added that if the letter dated 4/3/2008 and paragraphs 4, 5, 8, 9 and 10 of the Statement of Facts are struck out then that marks the end of the claimant’s case. That the claimant has not made out a case to be entitled to the reliefs sought. He submitted that the burden of proof in every judicial proceedings lies on the party who asserts the existence of the fact in issue. He referred to Section 131 (1) and 132 of the Evidence Act, 2011, Buhari v. INEC [2008] NWLR (pt. 1120) p. 246. That the law requires the party on whom the burden lies to place concrete evidence on the record to establish the facts in pleadings. He relied on the case of Igbeke v. Emodi [2010] NWLR (pt. 1204) p. 1. He submitted that a claimant must succeed on the strength of his case and not on any perceived weakness in the case of the defendant. He cited the case of Onyia v. Onyia [2012] 3 NWLR (pt. 1286) p. 182. He argued that the employment in October, 2006 upon which the claim of N140,000.00 as well as any subsequent regularization was predicated has been put in issue and the burden is on the claimant to prove same which he has failed to prove. Learned Counsel submitted that the claim of the claimant that he was issued letter of employment as a Freelance Correspondent at a monthly allowance of N10,000.00 was not substantiated as he never tendered the said letter in evidence and there was no explanation whatsoever for the absence of the letter. That the onus of tendering the purported letter of employment of October, 2006 rests on the claimant. He relied on the case of Ofomaja v. Hon. Comm. For Education [1995] 8 NWLR (pt. 411) p. 69. Learned Counsel submitted that there was never an employment in October, 2006 or at any time and so there was no employment letter. He also pointed out that the claimant’s claim for regularization on 4th March, 2008 was not backed by any letter to that effect. He invited the court to take a good look at the letter dated 4th March, 2008 which is titled as “offer of employment and not “Regularization”. He submitted further that oral evidence cannot be allowed to vary, change or alter documentary evidence, citing the case of Imerh v. Okon [2012] 11 NWLR (pt. 1311) 270. He urged the court to hold that the claimant was never employed in October, 2006 neither was there any employment that was subsequently regularized on 4th March, 2008. Counsel submitted that assuming without conceding tht this court can convert the letter of 4th March, 2008 to the claimant’s letter of offer of employment then the said letter of confirmation of the claimant’s appointment is subject to a satisfactory performance for a probation period of three months with the defendant reserving the right to extend it if it so wishes. That the claimant’s employment was never confirmed and unless the claimant can prove that his employment was confirmed he cannot claim any money for the period between 4/3/2008 and July, 2010 or any other period at all. He added that the claimant did not only fail to perform satisfactorily within the first three months but he was not around to perform at all. That the averments of the defendant that the claimant never worked for it was not controverted by way of a reply citing the case of S.P.D.C.N Ltd v. Oruambo [2012] 5 NWLR (pt. 1294) p. 591. He argued that from the totality of evidence the claimant has not proved that he is entitled to the sum of N840,000.00 from the defendant or any other amount whatsoever. Counsel further argued that the contradictions in the claimant’s case show that there is nothing credible in his testimony and the entire case of the claimant. He referred to the case of Njoku v. Jonathan [2010] 8 NWLR (pt. 1304) p. 135. He argued that the court cannot pick and choose which particular averment or evidence to believe. He finally urged the court to resolve the lone issue in favour of the defendant. I have carefully considered the processes filed by the parties, the submissions of counsel and the authorities relied upon. In my view, the issue for determination is whether the claimant is entitled to the reliefs sought in this case. The claimant in this case pleaded to have been employed by the defendant as a Freelance Correspondent in October, 2006 on a monthly salary of N10,000.00. That in March, 2008 his employment was regularized and he was placed on a monthly salary of N25,000.00 and that he resigned his employment with the defendant on 27th July, 2010. He also contended that between October, 2006 the defendant owed him the sum of N170,000.00 representing 17 months’ salary out of which the defendant paid in the sum of N30,000.00. That between March, 2008 to July, 2010 when he resigned his appointment the defendant owed him the sum of N700,000.00 and when added to the outstanding of N140,000.00 it became the sum of N840,000.00. The defendant contended that it offered the claimant employment as State Correspondent in charge of Plateau State with effect from 1st March, 2008 through a letter of 4th March, 2008 but the claimant declined by absconding immediately without any justifiable reason as he never acted in the capacity he was employed. That it never appointed the claimant its Freelance Correspondent on salary N10,000.00 and never regularized claimant’s appointment. And that the N30,000.00 it paid was as a result of three news contributions the claimant made to the National Daily Newspaper. In paragraph 4 of the Statement of Facts the claimant contended as follows: “The claimant avers that sometime in October, 2006, he was employed as a staff of the defendant as a “Freelance Correspondent” on a monthly allowance of N10,000.00 only. The letter of appointment as a Freelance Correspondent is pleaded and shall be relied upon by the claimant at the trial of this action. The defendant is given notice to produce the original at the trial of this suit”. However, during cross-examination the claimant stated that he did not plead the employment letter of the freelance employment because it was a verbal transaction which later metamorphosed to the full time employment. If in fact a letter of employment as a Freelance Correspondent was issued to the claimant, the original of that letter ought to be in the possession of the claimant and no other. The defendant cannot be in possession of the original letter which it wrote to the claimant. The claimant contradicted himself when he stated that the said employment letter as a Freelance Correspondent was made orally. The law is that he who asserts the existence of a particular fact has the burden of proving the existence of such facts. See Nig. Army v. Yakubu [2013] 2 – 3 M.J.S.C (pt. iv) p. 1 at p. 15, Okubule v. Oyagbola [1990] 4 NWLR (pt. 147) p. 72, Osaware v. Ezeiruka [1978] 6 – 7 SC p. 135, Odukwe v. Ogunbiyi [1998] 8 NWLR (pt. 561) p. 339. I therefore resolve this contradiction in favour of the defendant. The claimant has failed to prove that he was employed as a Freelance Correspondent by the defendant. Concerning the claimant’s contention that he was placed on a month salary of N10,000.00 by the defendant, this contention is also not proved. There is no pay slip or any material before the court to indicate that the claimant was placed on salary of N10,000.00 monthly or was owed arrears of salary by the defendant. The claimant further claimed that his employment as a Freelance Correspondent was regularized by the defendant in March, 2008 and placed him on monthly salary of N25,000.00. He supported this assertion by attaching a letter of employment dated 4th March, 2008. The defendant admitted employing the claimant but contended that the claimant absconded after his employment and refused to perform his duties without justifiable reason. That the defendant never regularized the claimant’s employment. During cross-examination, the DW1 confirmed that the claimant was employed by the defendant with a letter of employment dated 4th March, 2008. That the defendant did not write a disclaimer notice against the claimant after he absconded. He also confirmed that the claimant wrote a letter of demand of his salary to the defendant. He added that the claimant wrote a letter of resignation to the defendant. That the defendant did not terminate the claimant’s employment since 2008. From the evidence of the DW1, it is clear that the defendant employed the claimant by virtue of the letter dated 4th March, 2008 on a salary of N25,000.00 per month. A cursory look at the letter of employment dated 4th March, 2008 it is clear that claimant was employed by the defendant and did not regularize an existing employment. It is therefore, consistent with the evidence of the defendant that it never regularized the claimant’s employment but merely employed him. The defendant through the DW1 admitted that the defendant did not terminate the employment of the claimant since 2008 and that the defendant was served the claimant’s letter of demand for arrears of salary. The law is that facts which are admitted need no further proof. See N.B.A v. Mabawonku [2013] 15 NWLR (pt. 1378) p. 603 at p. 620 para A – B. I therefore hold that the claimant’s employment with the defendant terminated on 27th July, 2010 when the claimant resigned his appointment. I also hold tht the claimant is entitled to the sum of N700,000.00 (Seven Hundred Thousand Naira) being his salary from March, 2008 when he was employed to July, 2010 when he resigned his appointment with the defendant. The defendant is hereby ordered to pay the sum of N700,000.00 (Seven Hundred Thousand Naira) to the claimant as his arrears of salary. I also award the cost of N20,000.00 (Twenty Thousand Naira) against the defendant. Judgment is entered accordingly. …………………………………… Hon. Justice J. T. Agbadu Fishim Presiding Judge