Alhaji Isola Are Ogele V. Alhaji Banni Gaa Budo Nuhu (1997)

LawGlobal-Hub Lead Judgment Report

ABDULLAHI, J.C.A. 

The appellant in this appeal was a plaintiff before the trial Upper Area Court Ilorin, claiming a piece of land. At the end of the trial after hearing evidence from both parties, the Upper Area Court dismissed the appellant’s claim.

The appellant was not happy with the judgment of the Upper Area Court and he appealed to the High Court of Kwara State. The appellant initially filed eight grounds of appeal before the High Court.

All necessary steps and processes for the hearing of the appeal were completed and the appeal was fixed for hearing when the appellant sought leave of the High Court by way of motion on notice to file and argue an additional ground of appeal as ground number nine.

The motion was moved. It was opposed by the present respondent. In opposing the motion, the respondent filed two counter affidavits in answer to two affidavits filed in support of the motion.

At the end of the day, the motion was granted by the High Court and the appellant was given leave to file and argue the additional ground of appeal.

It so happened that the additional ground of appeal raised a constitutional issue which goes to the jurisdiction of the trial Upper Area Court. In the light of that the learned senior counsel for appellant decided to argue that lone additional ground, without touching any of the eight original grounds filed.

The learned counsel for respondent, vehemently objected to the method adopted by the learned senior counsel, but the High Court in a short ruling overruled the objection of the learned counsel for respondent and agreed to hear the learned senior counsel’s argument on the additional ground only.

It may well be necessary to reproduce this short ruling of the High Court on this issue because it is a subject of a cross-appeal by the respondent. It reads thus:

“Court There is no doubt that the issue whether the decision of the UAC is nullity is fundamental and its decision on it (sic) is capable of disposing of the entire appeal.

It will not make sense to hear the entire appeal and only write judgment in respect of only one ground.

We would rather confine ourselves to the additional ground and consider the same, one way or the other.

Mr. Akintoye, Jr, is hereby overruled and should proceed to respond to the learned SAN’s argument.

So, that was what happened, arguments on the additional ground were advanced by both parties. At the end of the day, in a reserved judgment delivered on 16/5/96 by the High Court, Ibiwoye, Belgore JJ, the court dismissed the ground of appeal as lacking in merit. The last portion of the judgment reads as follows:-