Samuel Okedare V. Oba Ahmadu Adebara & Ors. (1994)

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was by paternal inheritance, the owner of all lands in Jebba. He claimed other reliefs, including declarations in relation to certain things and injunctions restraining the appellant alone or the 2nd and the 3rd respondents in relation to certain matters. The appellant filed a Statement of Defence to the Statement of Claim of the 1st respondent.

In the Statement of Defence of the appellant was included a counter-claim in which he claimed, inter alia, a declaration that he and his family known and called Okedare family of Jebba’ were the customary owners and/or entitled to possession of all lands in and around Jebba, Kwara State, Nigeria, which land was bounded in the North by River Niger, in the West by Gata, in the East by River Oshin/Bacita and in the South by Alagbon, and which land also included the land on which the Nigerian Paper Mill constructed its logging Road Project and subject matter of the suit.

He also claimed another declaration and also a decree in respect of certain things and four permanent injunctions restraining one or the other of the 1st, the 2nd and the 3rd respondents. The 2nd and the 3rd respondents filed a joint Statement of Defence.

The evidence led by the 1st respondent was that he was appointed the Oba of Jebba in 1943 by the Emir of Ilorin in succession to his father. The 1st respondent by custom and tradition owned all parcels of land in Jebba. According to him his family used to allocate land to deserving subjects in his domain and everyone living in Jebba was his tenant. His subjects who had been allocated parcels of land used to give yams and guinea corn as tributes to his family.

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The appellant led evidence that he and members of his family were the owners of all parcels of land in and around Jebba. The averments, in his statement of Defence, showed what was the basis for his claim that all parcels of land in and around Jebba belonged to his family.

The immediate cause of the dispute between the appellant and the 1st respondent was the disbursement of the compensation which the Nigerian Paper Mill Limited was to pay for the land acquired by the Mill in the area. The list of claimants for compensation for crops which the 1st respondent submitted to the Mill did not include the appellant or any member of his family. On learning of what happened, the appellant protested to the Ministry of Works, Lands and Survey, Horin, and to the Management of the Nigerian Paper Mill Limited.

The learned trial Judge, after due consideration of the evidence led by the parties and of the submissions of their learned counsel, non-suited the appellant and the 1st respondent in respect of their claims for compensation, dismissed the other aspects of the 1st respondent’s claim, and granted the other reliefs claimed by the appellant. In particular, the learned trial Judge stated, inter alia, as follows:-

“Principally, this suit is 1st plaintiff’s baby. He only included the names of the other co-plaintiffs for the sake of making up number. They remained faceless throughout the proceedings as they never testified. Their claim is dismissed. All the other declarations sought by the 1st plaintiff fail and are accordingly dismissed.

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The 1st Defendant clearly proved his case in respect of all the declarations sought by him apart from the specific amount of compensation due on economic trees. The declarations sought by the 1st defendant apart from those relating to compensation are upheld. They are ordered accordingly.”

Dissatisfied with the judgment of the learned trial Judge, the 1st respondent lodged an appeal to the Court of Appeal. A careful reading of the judgment of the Court of Appeal shows that the court was of the view that the claim of the 1st respondent that he was the owner of all lands in Jebba and the claim of the appellant that he and his family were the customary owner and/or entitled to possession of all lands in and around Jebba were considered by the Court as claims to unascertained land which could not succeed. That accounts for that part of the order of the court which stated as follows:-

“In the result, this appeal succeeds in part. The judgment of Fabiyi, J., granting declaration and injunctions claimed by the 1st respondent, in his counter-claim is set aside. The appeal of the appellant against the dismissal of the appellant claim is dismissed.”

In the view of the court below, since the area claimed by the 1st respondent was not ascertainable to enable one to determine the actual amount he was entitled to be compensated the proper order was an order of retrial. The evidence adduced was definitely inconclusive to establish the 1st respondent’s individual claim against the payment made by the Paper Mill. In making the order for retrial, the court stated that other persons whose rights have been affected by the acquisition of land by the Paper Mill Limited, should be allowed to participate in the retrial proceedings. The foregoing accounts for the second part of the order of the court below which is as follows:-

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“I order the case to be retried by the High Court, but before another Judge. All parties and those interested in the compensation paid by the Nigerian Paper Mill, Jebba, should be notified of the retrial for them to file their respective claims before the High Court.”

There was no inconsistency or conflict in the first and the second parts of the order made by the court below as previously thought when the appeal was being heard and as argued by the learned counsel for the parties. Whether the judgment of the court below and its orders were right is another matter.

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