In AKANDE v JEGEDE (2022) 14 NWLR (Pt. 1849) page 125 at page 162 paras C-D, decided in May 2022, the Supreme Court of Nigeria held that service of court process by bailiff on a third party who eventually gives it to party to an action constitutes proper “personal service.”
The Court stated that:
“Where a party to an action was not personally served by a bailiff of court but receives a process from a third party who had earlier been served with the process by a bailiff, such service by the third party is still deemed to be personal service notwithstanding the absence of personal service from a bailiff”
Thus, you cannot deny service of processes on the basis that it was not handed to you personally. If it was given to an adult in the premises, it is deemed as “personal service”.
The Court stated that:
“Where a party to an action was not personally served by a bailiff of court but receives a process from a third party who had earlier been served with the process by a bailiff, such service by the third party is still deemed to be personal service notwithstanding the absence of personal service from a bailiff”
Thus, you cannot deny service of processes on the basis that it was not handed to you personally. If it was given to an adult in the premises, it is deemed as “personal service”.