Kantin Kwari Market Traders Association & Ors V. Bashir Labaran & Ors (2016)

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OLUDOTUN ADEBOLA ADEFOPE-OKOJIE, J.C.A.

This is an appeal against the judgment of the Kano State High Court delivered by Hon Justice Kabiru M. Auta on the 4th May 2015 wherein judgment was entered against the Appellants, suing as Plaintiffs.
Dissatisfied, the Appellants filed a Notice of Appeal to this Court, dated 4/5/15.

Briefs of arguments were filed in accordance with the rules of Court. The Appellant’s Brief was settled by B.Y Gambo Esq., dated 14/07/2015 and filed on 15/07/2015, while the Respondent’s Brief was settled by Rilwanu Umar Esq. dated 12/10/2015 but filed on 16/10/2015.

The Respondents, in addition, filed a Notice of Preliminary Objection, to the hearing of the appeal on 16th October 2015, dated 13th October 2015.
The grounds for the Preliminary objection are as follow:
i. That the 1st Appellant is registered under Part C of CAMA.
ii. That the 1st Appellant is registered as incorporated trustee and can only sue through its incorporated trustees,
iii. That the 1st Appellant is not a juristic personality, only a juristic personality can sue and be sued.

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iv. That the 1st Appellant does not have locus standi to sue the respondents.Â

The Preliminary Objection was argued at Pages 5-8 of the Respondent’s Brief.
In response, the Appellant filed a Reply, dated 29/2/16.

I shall summarily dispense with the Preliminary Objection of the Respondent, as the issues raised therein, and which also form the 1st issue for determination raised by the Respondents, were never raised in the Court below.

It is trite law that an issue of fact or law which was not raised, argued and pronounced upon by a trial Court cannot be validly raised as a ground of appeal or as an issue for determination before the appellate Court. To raise such an issue, the leave of the appellate Court must be sought and obtained. Such an issue or argument made is, in consequence, not competent and goes to no issue. See Idufueko v Pfizer Products Ltd (2014) 12 NWLR Part 1420 Page 96 at 122 Para A per Galadima JSC; Compagnie Generale De Geophysique (Nig) Ltd v Aminu (2015) 7 NWLR Part 1459 Page 577 at 591 Para G per Rhodes- Vivour JSC.
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The Respondent’s Preliminary Objection and the 1st issue raised by the Respondents in their Brief of

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Argument are thus incompetent, I hold, and are accordingly struck out.

The case of the Appellants, as Plaintiffs before the lower Court, by their pleadings, is that they have been traders in Kantin Kwari Market, Kano, for over 25 years and have been on the disputed space in front of the house of Alhaji Labaran Na Kyauta (hereafter referred to as ???Alh Labaran”), whose house is covered by a Certificate of Occupancy No 8181. They have been trading uninterruptedly on the said land and had been paying rent to the Fagge Local Government Council. They possess Temporary Permits over the land. Upon the death of Alhaji Labaran in 1983, his house was shared among his legal heirs.
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They denied that the land in dispute formed part of late Alh Labaran’s land and accused the 1st and 2nd Respondents, sons of the Deceased owner, of conniving with the 3rd and 4th Respondents, to obtain an extension permit to extend from the land covered by their C of O, to the land occupied by the Appellants. The only landlords recognized by them is Fagge Local Government Council. They contend that the aim of the Respondents is to own the land space and deprive about 300 other

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traders of earning a livelihood.