Lawrence Gregorio Da Costa V Stella Omowale Ikomi (Married Woman For And On Behalf Of Herself And All The Other Children Of E.b. Ogunbayo (Deceased) (1968)

LawGlobal-Hub Lead Judgment Report

LEWIS, J.S.C. 

On the 4th of April, 1966 Caxton-Martins J. in the Lagos High Court in suit LD/315/65 gave judgment with 80 guineas costs in favour of the plaintiff in terms of her writ (save that he assessed general damages at £50 instead of the £100 claimed) which read:-

“The plaintiff’s claims against the defendant are for :-

(i.) A declaration that all that piece or parcel of land situate and lying on both sides of Olumo Street, Iwaiya Odo, Yaba East in the Federal Territory of Lagos belongs to the plaintiff for an estate in fee simple.

(ii.) The sum of £100 (one hundred pounds only) being General Damages for trespass committed by the defendant, his servants and or his agents and workmen on the said land between April 1965 and May 1965 by wrongfully entering upon that part of the said land in the possession of the plaintiff.

(iii.) An injunction restraining the defendant either by himself or by his servants, agents and or workmen from committing further acts of trespass on the said land.

At all times material to these proceedings the plaintiff was and is in possession of that part of the said land upon which the Defendant had wrongfully entered”.

The plaintiff in her statement of claim pleaded in paragraphs 5, 6 and 7 as follows:-

“5. The said land formed part of a large area of land originally owned by the OLOTO FAMILY.

6. On or about the 16th day of July 1918 a piece or parcel of land of which the land in dispute formed a portion was sold by one Chief Ajayi Oloto, with the approval of the Oloto Family to one Jinadu Oseru for an estate in fee simple in possession free from incumbrances.

7. On completion of the said sale the said Jinadu Oseru entered into possession of the said land (but did not obtain a legal conveyance thereof though the transaction was witnessed by a memorandum in writing) and exercised acts of ownership thereover”.

And then in subsequent paragraphs of the statement of claim traced the title to her father who bough part of the land from the executor of one Ephraim Michael Ekundayo Agbebi and received a conveyance in fee simple dated the 27th of April, 1951 in respect of k though he had, according to paragraph 12 of her statement of claim, been put into occupation of the land since the 2nd of April, 1937 (though the said Ephraim Michael Ekundayo Agbebi had in fact it appears from the conveyance of the 27th of April, 1951 (exhibit ‘2’) died on the 7th of October, 1935). The father of the plaintiff bought the remainder of the land in question from one Nathaniel Theophilus Ojo Davis and received a conveyance in fee simple of it dated 29th February, 1944. These two conveyances which were respectively exhibits 2 and 1 were the only documents of title tendered by the plaintiff which were exhibits in the case. The defendant for his part agreed with the plaintiff that the original owner was the Oloto Family and he pleaded in paragraphs 5 and 6 of his statement of defence as follows:-

“5. The land was at all material times in possession of the Oloto Chieftaincy family, the original owner according to Yoruba native law and custom, the said family did not sell the land to any person as alleged in paragraph 6 of the statement of claim or at all.

6. On or about the 20th December 1963 the Oloto Chieftaincy family through their accredited head and representatives sold a large area of land at Onike Village to him and conveyed same to him and installed him in possession thereof. The deed of conveyance is registered as No. 45 page 45 in Volume 1217 of the Lagos Land Registry”.