Chief Belonwu Ugochukwu v. Cooperative and Commerce Bank (Nigeria) Limited [1996] 6 NWLR (Pt 456) P.524
Abstract
Introduction
What is the position of the Law on traverse in a pleading where a defendant in reply to a material fact contained in a plaintiff's statement of claim replies that he is not in a position to 'admit' or 'deny' the averment and therefore puts the plaintiff to the 'strictest proof thereof'? In this paper, attempt will be made to bring out the position of our apex court on the issue particularly since 19761 and how the position seems to have been truncated in 1996 and proffer solutions on how best to deal with this type of traverse particularly where it comes to issues relating to monetary transactions between mortgagors and mortgagees. However, for purposes of clarity and simplicity of analysis let us firstly remind ourselves of some elementary aspect of pleadings.
