The appellant sued the respondent in the High Court claiming declaration of title, an order for an account and injunction against the respondent.

At the trial of the suit, the appellant testified for himself and called five other witnesses to substantiate his claim. The respondent on the other hand testified for herself and called three other witnesses. The main plank of the respondent’s defence was that her mother by name Falilatu Durojaiye, bought the land in dispute sometime in 1952 from one Salami Buraimoh. When the respondent sought to tender the memorandum of sale of the land, the appellant objected to the admissibility thereof on the grounds that the document is a registrable instrument but was not registered and that it was also not prepared by a legal practitioner. The trial court admitted the document in evidence as Exhibit ‘C’.

At the conclusion of the trial, the trial court in a considered judgment dismissed the appellant’s claim.

Dissatisfied with the judgment, the appellant appealed to the Court of Appeal.