The plaintiff's case was that the land in dispute belonged to them. They pleaded that the original owner of the land was Odumbo, their ancestor. Odumbo was the son of Ijaolu; and that Ijaolu allotted the land to Odumbo. The Defendants on the other hand traced their title to Ijaolu who was said to be the first person to settle on the land in dispute. It was pleaded that Odumbo who the plaintiffs acknowledged as their Ancestor was not the son of Ijaolu but a friend to Talako the junior brother of Ijaolu. After the death of Talako, Odumbo asked for and was allotted the land formerly belonging to Talako. Odumbo, it was pleaded, thus became a Customary Tenant of the Defendants family. From the pleadings of the parties, it was a common ground that the title in the land at the beginning resided with Ijaolu. The issue before the lower court became who could trace the ancestry to the mutually acknowledged owner of the land/ the Defendants succeeded in doing so. They had the judgment of the lower court as earlier stated. Plaintiff's claim was dismissed.

The Defendants complaint is that the Plaintiffs ought not to have been granted a relief against forfeiture.

Both parties appealed but the main appeal of the respondents was struck out thus the Court of Appeal considered only the "cross appeal" of the appellants.