Chief Ebenezer Awote & Ors. V. Sunmola Kadiri Owodunni & Anor. (1986)

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KAWU, J.S.C. 

In the Grade ‘A’ Customary Court, Ijebu-Ode, the appellants, as plaintiffs, instituted an action against the respondents, claiming as follows:-

(i) Declaration of title in accordance with customary law to all that piece or parcel of land situate lying and being along Ijebu-Ode/ Ibadan Road, Ijebu-Ode (at the back of Chief T. A. Odutola’s compound, Ijebu-Ode) as the property of the plaintiffs’ family, to wit, the Oliwo Agbadagbodo Family (otherwise known as and called Olore Family) of Ijasi Quarter, Ijebu-Ode. Western State of Nigeria.

The value of the said land is 250 (Two Hundred and Fifty pounds).

(ii) 250(Two Hundred and Fifty pounds) being general damages for the trespass committed on the said land by the defendant on or the 21st day of June. 1986; and

(iii) Injunction restraining the defendant, his agents, servants or assigns from any further acts of trespass on the said land.”

At the trial, both parties gave evidence of traditional history, as well as evidence of acts of ownership, in support of their respective claims. At the end of the day, the learned President of the Customary Court, after giving due consideration to the evidence led, held that the plaintiffs had failed to establish their case. He therefore dismissed the plaintiffs’ claims in their entirety. It is pertinent to note, that one of the reasons given by the trial court for dismissing the claims of the plaintiffs was their failure to prove satisfactorily, some of the boundaries of the land they were claiming.

Being dissatisfied with the decision of the trial Customary Court, the plaintiffs appealed to the Ijebu-Ode High Court, and their appeal was allowed, and a declaration was made in their favour. The defendants, (respondents herein), appealed to the Court of Appeal against the decision of the High Court, and the Court of Appeal, by a unanimous decision given on the 25th August, 1985, allowed their appeal. The present appeal in this Court is against the decision of the Court of Appeal.

When the appeal came up for hearing on the 13th October, 1986 Mr. Ajayi, S.A.N. counsel to the appellant, sought the leave of this Court to move a motion in respect of which he had previously given notice. It was a motion for the leave of the Court to amend the original grounds of appeal by filing some additional ones. There were five of them, but for the purpose of this ruling, only the first and the second proposed additional grounds are relevant. They are as follows:

Additional Ground, of Appeal

“1. Error In Law

The Court of Appeal erred in law in holding that there was no evidence to support the decision of the learned High Court Judge fixing as boundary of the Plaintiffs land at the Southern (sic) and by excluding the area edged GREEN in Exhibit ‘A’ and that the same was arbitrary when:-

(i) The plan Exhibit ‘A’ is a composite plan made from two plans viz:-

(a) Exhibit ‘B’ previously made for a member of the Plaintiffs’ family showing the land he then claimed as belonging to the plaintiffs’ family in earlier litigation.