Balarabe Kankarofi Vs Mustapha Imam Umar (2023)

LawGlobal-Hub Lead Judgment Report – COURT OF APPEAL

MOHAMMED DANJUMA, JCA (Delivering the leading judgment)

This is an appeal against the decision of the Sharia Court of Appeal of Kano State, sitting at Kano. The judgment was delivered on 7th September, 2020 in case No: SCA/KN/CV/379/2019 which affirmed the judgment of the trial court, but ordered that the car and the house be shared equally between the appellant and the respondent.

The judgment is against the decision of the lower court which ordered that the house and the car shall be shared in accordance with the number of the heirs and that the respondent herein is only entitled to his shares while other shares of the remaining heirs are to go to the appellant based on the other heirs’ admission and agreement of the gift alleged to have been made by their late mother.

Dissatisfied with the decision of the court below, the appellant appealed against it and so filed a notice of appeal dated 20/10/2020 containing two (2) grounds.

Brief statement of facts

The case, which is the subject matter of this appeal, emanated from Upper Sharia Court, Fagge, Kano, Kano State, in suit No: CV/713/2018, in respect of the issue of inheritance which borders on the distribution of the estate of Late Khadija Inuwa Umar who is the mother of both the appellant and the respondent. The respondent herein was the plaintiff at the trial court.

The plaintiff/respondent sought for the distribution of the estate of his late mother, Khadija Inuwa Umar who left ten (10) children namely Balarabe (the appellant), Bashir Mustapha (the respondent), Habibu, Abdulkadir, Rabiatu, Aishatu, Zainab and Hafsatu. The deceased left behind inheritable estate which includes car, house and the sum of N24,083.00.

The defendant (herein the appellant) denied the claim and further counter-claimed that the house and the car in question were given to him as a gift by his mother before her death.

The other heirs to late Khadija Inuwa Umar admitted to the claim of the appellant but which was vehemently denied by the respondent. At the conclusion of the trial, the Upper Sharia Court, Fagge, Kano held that the gift claimed by the defendant (Appellant) has failed, therefore, the estate shall be shared among the heirs of late Khadija and all other shares of the other heirs, with the exception of the respondent herein, shall go to the appellant, since they have admitted and consented to the gift as stated by the defendant (Appellant).

The respondent being dissatisfied with the said judgment, appealed to the Sharia Court of Appeal, Kano and the said court, after hearing the parties, affirmed the decision of the trial court, but ordered that the estate should be distributed equally between the appellant and the respondent.

Dissatisfied with the judgment of the Sharia Court of Appeal, Kano, the appellant appealed to this honourable court, challenging the judgment of the Sharia Court of Appeal, Kano.

Issues for determination

The appellant, in his brief of argument dated 12th day of January, 2021, and filed 13th of January, 2021, through his counsel, Mr. Ibrahim Abdullahi, Esq., formulated two (2) issues from the grounds of appeal, viz;

1. Whether the court below (Sharia Court of Appeal, Kano) was right when it held that the estate of Late Hajia Inuwa Umar (a House and a car) shall be distributed equally between the appellant and the respondent, regardless of the admission made by the heirs in favour of the appellants gift?
2. Whether the lower court (Sharia Court of Appeal, Kano) was right when it held that the estate of late Khadija Inuwa Umar (a car and a house) shall be distributed between the appellant and the respondent equally without stating any reason in arriving at its decision.

In arguing the first issue raised for determination, the learned counsel to the appellant Mr. Ibrahim Abdullahi, Esq. first submits that under Islamic Law, all the heirs of a deceased person are entitled to have their shares from the deceased persons estate when the issue of inheritance arises, and their shares are, as provided under Islamic Law, based on their status, except in certain circumstances where the law barred the relative from inheriting a particular person. He placed reliance on Fathul-Jawad, pages 456-7.