This action was first instituted by the 1st Plaintiff/Appellant in March, 1993 against the background of Defendants' opposition to the 1st Plaintiff/Appellant's attempt at selling parts of the land in dispute compositely known as Maiyegun Village, and situate in an area measuring 14.534 hectares in the Eti-Osa Local Government Area of Lagos State.

The land was originally owned and occupied by the Defendants' ancestor, Oseni Maiyegun, who had migrated from Abeokuta to settle on the land permanently since the year 1820. By the Defendants' reckoning, their ancestor and his descendants had settled on the land and inhabited the village from the year 1820, whereas the Plaintiffs' recollection of the Defendants' ancestor's sojourn in the village goes back to the year 1779. The descendants of Oseni Maiyegun. it is further contended, had peaceably lived in and inhabited Maiyegun village without any disturbance or interference from the neighbouring village, Ikate, until the 1st Plaintiff/Appellant, a white cap Chief as of 1992, was made an Oba (a king) of Ikate land in February, 1993 when he was formally given a staff of office by the then Governor of Lagos State.

Upon the 1st Plaintiff/Appellant becoming the Oba of Ikate land in 1993, it was further averred, Ikate land was christened as Ikate Kingdom. Sequel to this case, it was added, the 1st Plaintiff/Appellant had in December, 1992 purportedly chosen and appointed one illiterate, Muili Maiyegun, a member of the Defendants' family, as the Bale (the community head) of Maiyegun Village - an act which the Defendants considered was against their family custom, which only permits Defendants' community to appoint their own Bale. The said Muili Maiyegun and his son, it was added, received some gift of a parcel of land from the 1st Plaintiff which they were selling before he was called to give evidence for the Plaintiffs as PW.2.

It was further stated that no sooner was the 1st Plaintiff/Appellant formally installed as an Oba of Ikate land in February, 1993 than he instituted this action on behalf of his family, claiming inter alia:

It is incontestable, it is further argued, that the Defendant's family have always been in exclusive possession of the land in dispute and have exercised long, continuous and maximum acts of possession and ownership over the land.

It was also pointed out that before the institution of this case, the land in dispute and indeed the whole land situate in Eti-Osa and Ibeju Lekki Local Government area of Lagos State following revocation of existing rights of occupancy over same existed; and that following the request or representation made to the Lagos State Government by the Defendants' family for the excision and release of their ancestral homeland, the area of land measuring 14.535 hectares, namely, the land in dispute, was excised and granted to the Defendants' family by the Lagos State Government.

The Plaintiffs had also through Elegushi Property and Investment Company Limited, applied to the Lagos State Government for grant of land, and they were granted a right of occupancy over a larger area of land, measuring 500 hectares covered by a Certificate of Occupancy dated 19/9/90 registered as No.6 at page 60 in Volume 1990, that is exhibit T.

Apart from the fact of excision and grant of the land in dispute to the Defendants' family by the Lagos State Government, the Defendants' root of title was shown to have originated from Oluge, the then Ojomu of Ajiran, who in 1820 made absolute grant of the land to Defendants' ancestor, Oseni Maiyegun. The Plaintiffs failed to prove by evidence how they acquired or came to settle on the land in dispute.

Thus the judgment of the Court of Appeal was that the Plaintiffs did not show or prove superior title to entitle them to possession of Maiyegun Village from the Defendants family.

In the argument of this appeal the parties are herein re-characterized as Plaintiffs and Defendants respectively.