REPUBLIC vs. CIRCUIT COURT JUDGE; EX PARTE DZAKAH

JUDGMENT OF APATU-PLANGE J. This is an application at the behest of Godzah Dzakah and Goldsmith Akpah praying this court for an order of certiorari to quash the judgment of his Honour C. Adamah, Circuit Judge dated 27 October 1983. The grounds on which the said relief is being sought are contained in the statement of the applicants, i.e. “breach of the principles of natural justice—audi alteram partem.” Before counsel for the applicants could be heard, counsel for the respondent raised a preliminary objection as to the propriety of the certiorari application. He contended that the applicants should have applied to the lower court to have the judgment set aside to enable them to be heard, and if such an application was refused, then they could appeal against the refusal, and that apart from that procedure, they were not entitled to come by way of certiorari on the grounds that they were denied the right of being heard and therefore the rules of natural justice had been ...