Mr. Esan Asebieko V. Mr. Jimoh Morakinyo (2016)

LawGlobal-Hub Lead Judgment Report

FATIMA OMORO AKINBAMI, J.C.A. 

The Appellant as Plaintiff commenced the action in the Ekiti State High Court, Ado-Ekiti Judicial Division against the Respondent and he claimed the following reliefs in Paragraph 21 of the Statement of Claim dated 18th December, 2012:-
“(A) A declaration that the claimant had validly acquired the land in dispute that is Block D Plots 1 and 2 of the Samo family layout by purchase from the same family of Irona Quarters, Ado-Ekiti.

(B) A declaration that the claimant is entitled to a statutory right of occupancy of Block D Plots 1 and 2 of the Samo family layout having validly acquired same from the Samo family of Irona Quarters, Ado-Ekiti.
(C) An order of perpetual injunction restraining the defendant by himself, his agents, servants, privies and whosoever on his behalf from committing further acts of trespass on the said land.
(D) N2,000,000:00 (Two Million Naira Only) being general damages for trespass committed by the defendant on the claimant?s land.”

?The Appellant?s case briefly put, is that he purchased four vacant plots of land from the

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Samo family on the Samo family layout at Amulegun, beside PHCN 132KVA Omisanjana, Ado-Ekiti. That the four plots are known and called Block E Plot 1, Block D Plots 1 and 2 and Block F Plot 10. The purchase of these plots of land by him was with the consent and concurrence of the head and principal members of the Samo family of Ado-Ekiti, who are the original owners of the said land from time immemorial. The Samo family executed a sales agreement of the four plots of land in his favour, a family receipt and an affidavit for change of ownership of the said plots were also given to him by the family. He took possession of these plots and constructed corner-piece on the boundaries of Block D Plot 1 and 2, with the inscription of his name and his GSM number boldly on all the four corner-pieces. On one of his visits to Block D Plots 1 and 2, he discovered that all the corner-pieces or demarcations he constructed on the said land had been demolished. He reconstructed the four corner-pieces. Sometimes around 2012, a Phone number 08139266002 called him that the caller is at his site destroying his corner-pieces or demarcations. He moved in haste to Block D, Plots 1

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and 2 and he met the Respondent in the act of demolishing his corner-piece or demarcations and he immediately challenged him. The Respondent persisted in destroying and demolishing the corner-piece structures, thereafter Appellant reported Respondent to the Police. The Police invited the Respondent, and his family intervened at the Police Station where the Respondent told his family that he needed two (2) plots of land. The Respondent accepted and promised never to trespass on the disputed land. The Samo family informed Appellant that the family had called the Respondent, to give him another land but he refused to answer them. The Respondent denied destroying Appellant?s corner-piece structures.

?The Respondent, in his defence stated that he was not aware that his land Block D, Plot 1 and 2 at Amulegun Omisanjana was sold to the Appellant, until the Appellant erected illegal corner-pieces on the land. Respondent argued that the land belongs to him as a member of Samo family and he had been farming there for over 50 years as his right. That Block D Plots 1 and 2 are part of his Cocoa Plantation, and he uprooted some of the cash crops there, when he

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decided to put his building there some time in 2011, and he deposited some materials there.

That as one of the elders of Samo family, he personally invited Chief Samuel Morakinyo who is his Junior brother from Abuja where he resided, to Ado-Ekiti after he had spent over 40 years outside Ado-Ekiti. When he arrived, he knew nothing about the family land. Respondent took him to the family land, and the land in question. He showed him his farm, where he saw Respondent?s plantation of cash crops.

Respondent stated that he is one of the Committee members that led the agent appointed by the family, to allocate land to any intending purchaser that showed interest in the family land. He further emphasized the fact that there was never a time the committee or the agent allocated or sold his land to the Appellant. That he is a farmer and he goes to the farm nearly everyday, nothing was done on his land until he saw the corner-piece made by Appellant. He removed the illegal corner-piece to enable him to know who could do that. It was that removal that afforded him the opportunity to know the Appellant after which he accused Appellant of trespass on his

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