The respondent and appellant were respectively plaintiff and defendant before the trial Upper Area Court, Deba formerly in Bauchi but now in Gombe State and they will be referred to henceforth by the latter title they bore in the trial court. The plaintiff’s claim against the defendant was for his father’s three farmlands which were in the possession of the defendant and which he, plaintiff wanted the court to receive and had them back to him. The Upper Area Court Judge II heard evidence from the plaintiff’s six witnesses and the defendant’s three witnesses and after inspecting the three parcels of land he entered judgment for the plaintiff on 3/6/92.

The defendant appealed to the appellate High Court of Justice. Bauchi State sitting in Gombe which on 29/1/93 dismissed the appeal and affirmed the judgment of the trial Upper Area Court.

Dissatisfied appellant appealed to the Court of Appeal.