Chief Salami Agbaje V. Habib Suleiman And Anor (1954)

LawGlobal Hub Judgment Report – West Africa Court of Appeal

Native Lands Acquisition Ordinance (Cap. 144), sections 3 (1) and (3), regulations 1 to 4—Approval of alien—Approval of instrument.

Facts

The parties made an agreement for a building lease of a plot in a Southern Province, but the owner (appellant now, defendant below) refused to execute the deed of lease, though he had received rent in advance and his ground of refusal was untrue.

He was sued and lost; and in his appeal he made, for the first time, a submission that the agreement was null and void under the above section, the plaintiffs being aliens.

Section 3 (1) provides that:—
“No alien shall acquire any interest or right in or over any land within the Southern Provinces from a native, unless such alien has been approved in writing by the Governor in that behalf, and then only under an instrument which, and the terms whereof, have also been so approved.’*

And section 3 (3) makes a transaction or instrument not so approved null and void. A procedure is laid down (with forms of instruments) in regulations made under the Ordinance. The alien has to supply certain particulars (regulation 1); the District Officer must satisfy himself that the alien is of good character and desirable as a resident or trader (regulations 2 and 3) and may prepare a draft
instrument and submit it with a report to the Resident for transmission to the Regional Lands Officer and approval by the Lieutenant-Governor of the Region.

The facts were that the plaintiffs took an application to the District Officer, who being satisfied with the purpose of the lease and knowing them to be desirable persons put up at their request the draft agreement for the lease, and when the parties had signed it submitted it for the Lieutenant-Governor’s approval, which he communicated to them in writing.

Held

(1) The objection, though not raised at the trial, raised a question of mixed law and fact which the Court of Appeal would consider.

(2) The facts established that section 3 (1) of the Ordinance and the regulations made thereunder had been sufficiently complied with.

Appeal dismissed.