The Federal Capital Territory High Court in Abuja has dismissed a claim brought by Profix Benelux B.V, a Netherlands-based company, against Gojopal Nigeria Limited.
Profix Benelux had sought declarations that Gojopal was indebted to it for €255,299.74 and $177,347.53, being alleged outstanding payments for the international supply contract.
Delivering the judgment, Honorable Justice M.S Idris agreed with the submissions of Barrister Phil Chigbo Ugochukwu, counsel for the defendant, that Profix Benelux failed to prove its case.
The court held that “the case clearly cries to high heavens to be fed with relevant and admissible evidence as to the contract sum that was agreed by parties.”
The court observed that Profix Benelux “woefully failed to realize that the judges do not act like the oracle at Ife, which is often engaged in crystal gazing and thereafter will proclaim a new Oba in succession to a decade’s Oba.”
The court noted that while the contract between the parties was largely unwritten, Profix Benelux failed to provide sufficient evidence of the exact sums agreed for the goods.
The court also disagreed with Profix Benelux’s argument that Gojopal’s failure to reply to its letter of May 31, 2019, implied acceptance of the figures it claimed.
Justice Idris emphasized that judges cannot manufacture evidence to assist a plaintiff in winning a case and that there was no miracle the court could do to save Profix Benelux’s case in the absence of relevant and admissible evidence.