The Court of Appeal in Port Harcourt has upheld the ₦5 million fine imposed on Nigerian On-Air Personality Ifedayo Olarinde, widely known as Daddy Freeze, for committing adultery.
This fine was initially ordered by the High Court in Port Harcourt on February 18, 2021, following Daddy Freeze’s affair with Benedicta Elechi while she was still married to Paul Odekina.
The High Court’s judgment required Daddy Freeze to compensate Paul Odekina with ₦5 million for the “injury suffered” and for “depriving [Odekina] of the amiable consort of his wife.
” The court also dissolved the marriage between Paul and Benedicta due to her adulterous relationship with Daddy Freeze.
Daddy Freeze appealed the decision, arguing that he had not been personally served with the court documents before substituted service was applied, violating the rules of the trial court.
He also contended that the substituted service, executed by courier, was ineffective.
However, the three-man panel of Justices Abubakar Talba, Danlami Senchi, and Hannatu Balogun dismissed Daddy Freeze’s appeal, ruling that he failed to counter the affidavit of service filed by the Process Server with a counter-affidavit, which is necessary to challenge the service effectively.
The appellate court concluded that Daddy Freeze’s appeal lacked merit and affirmed the judgment of the Rivers State High Court, upholding the ₦5 million fine.
The judgment emphasized that the proper procedure to challenge non-service would have been to file a counter-affidavit at the trial court and seek to set aside the judgment based on that.
Since Daddy Freeze did not follow this procedure, his appeal was dismissed.
The legal representatives in the case were Ola Faro and Ikobah Hilton for Daddy Freeze, and N.A. Naenwi and Wilcox Abereton (SAN) for the respondents.