It is the Appellant's case that his father, James Ezeigwe and the Respondent entered into an agreement sometime in 1958 in which it was agreed by the parties thereto that the said father of the Appellant will construct a 29 room building on a plot of land, now in dispute, which was leased to the Respondent by the government of the then Eastern Nigeria for the sum of £6,000.00 (N12,000.00). The Appellant's father completed only 19 of the agreed 29 rooms; that when the father asked for payment from the Respondent which she was unable to pay, the Respondent allegedly applied for the land to be assigned to the Plaintiff’s father as shown in Exhibits E, F and C contained in the Land Registry tile which was tendered, admitted and marked as Exhibit C; that upon the death of the father, Appellant stepped into his shoes and the Respondent granted the Appellant an irrevocable power of attorney, Exhibit A dated 25th June, 1966 in respect of the said property.

On the other hand, it is the case of the Respondent that the plot of land in issue was allocated to her by the then government of Eastern Nigeria in 1 958 and that she subsequently entered into an agreement with the father of the Appellant to construct a building of 29 rooms thereon for the sum of £3,000.00 (N6,000.00) but that the father of the Appellant could only complete 19 of the rooms leaving the Respondent to complete the remaining 10 rooms after the Nigerian Civil War, that in September, 1966, the Appellant assisted her to escape to the North because Northerners were at the time being killed in Port Harcourt - the Respondent being of Nupe extraction from the present day Niger State in Northern Nigeria; that before she escaped she told the Appellant to be collecting rents from the tenants in the property and the Appellant requested the Respondent to sign a document which would show the tenants that he had the authority or the Respondent to collect the rents which she signed without the contents being read over and interpreted to her as she is an illiterate; that the Appellant took advantage of her and induced her to sign Exhibit A which turned out to be an irrevocable power of attorney; that at the end of the civil war the Respondent returned to Port Harcourt and the property was duly released to her by the relevant authority of Rivers State and she had remained in possession ever since.

At the end of the hearing, the learned trial Judge, after reviewing and evaluating the evidence and the addresses of Counsel, dismissed the claims of the Appellant resulting in an appeal to the Court of Appeal. The Court of Appeal also dismissed the appeal.