CaseLaw
Iseogbekun Vs. Adelakun (2012) CLR 4(a) (SC)
Judgement delivered on April 13th 2012
Brief
Facts
Briefly, the case of the plaintiffs is that they are the only surviving principal descendants of the family of late Ajegun Bashua who originally owned the land in dispute, which is situate at No. 24 Onisemo Street, Lagos. Ajegun Bashua had two children: Sule alias Baba Musa and Sinatu Abiodun, who was survived by a daughter Alhaja Suwebatu Adufe, who was survived by the plaintiffs, Sule having died without any child. Alhaja Suwebatu exercised many acts of possession on the land in dispute and even caused an iron sheet structure to be erected thereon, and leased the property out. She continued to collect rents from the tenants until she died in 1981. After her death, the defendants who are the descendants of one Bakare Iseogbekun who was an arota of Ajegun Bashua instructed a solicitor to write to the tenants forbidding them from paying rents to the plaintiffs. The defendants started collecting rents and profits of the premises; and have now been in unlawful possession of the land by themselves or by their tenants.
The defendants as per their amended statement of defence denied most of the averments in the amended statement of claim. Their case is that Ajegun was not a blood relation of the Bashua family, but was son-in-law to Esubi Bashua having married Seliyat his daughter. The land in dispute originally belonged to the Onisemo family, from which Esubi Bashua got a parcel of land, and gave a portion of it to Ayawo Ajegun. The parcel of land given to Esubi Bashua was later registered in the name of Obashua under crown grant dated 19th November, 1874. Ayawo Ajegun and her husband Bakare were put in possession of the land including the land in dispute without any challenge from anyone until they died. They were survived by Abdullahi Bakare Osho popularly called Iseogbekun and their ownership of the land in dispute was confirmed in the crown grant of one Alii, the owner of an adjoining property, No. 12 Bridge Street, Lagos. The defendants traced their title to the land to Chief Obashua. One Madam Suwebatu Adufe, the plaintiffs' mother was collecting the rents of the property from the tenants therein, but did not account for the rents she collected to the defendants until she died. The defendants denied that the plaintiffs' mother was in possession of the property in dispute, but stated that she was a trespasser on the property. On the other hand, the 4th to 6th defendants admitted that the plaintiffs' mother was related to the Ajeguns and that was how she came to the property, and so their claim to ownership together with 1st - 3rd defendants is liable to forfeiture. The 4th to 6th defendants thus counter-claimed as follows:
After the completion of pleadings parties adduced evidence. At a stage of the proceedings, Alhaji M. A. Kekere-Ekun, Alhaji R. A. Adewale, and Alhaji Rafm Akinlade sought to be joined as defendants/counter- claimants, and the court granted their order of joinder. This court also granted the orders of substitution of some of the original parties who became deceased. All evidence before the court were evaluated by the learned trial Judge who at the end of the day found the claim of the plaintiffs and the counter claim of 4th - 6th defendants not proved. Consequently, he dismissed both the plaintiffs' claim and the 4th - 6th defendants' counter-claim. Dissatisfied with the decision, the plaintiffs appealed to the Court of Appeal Lagos Division. The Court of Appeal allowed the appeal in part, and also dismissed it in part.