Compulaw - 1st Indigenous Digital Law Library

Brief

Plaintiff to succeed on strength of his case
Title to land
Traditional evidence
Unchallenged evidence
Evidence adduced by parties
Kojo II v Bonsie
Concurrent finding of fact

Facts

This is an appeal against the judgment of the Court of Appeal, Ibadan Division (‘the court below’ for short) delivered on the 10th day of May, 2001 in which the judgment of the Court sitting at Abeokuta, Ogun State of Nigeria, delivered on 29th November, 1985 was affirmed.

It is apt to state the relevant facts of the matter. The plaintiffs who are the respondents herein claimed in the trial court by writ of summons as follows:

1
“Declaration to the effect that the plaintiffs are entitled to Certificate of Occupancy to the parcel of land situate and known as Ijari land in Ijoko Otta Railway Station, via Otta, Ifo/Otta Local Government Area, Ogun State.
2
The sum of N50,000:00 (Fifty Thousand Naira) as special and general damages for the unlawful trespass by the defendant on the land between 15th and 22nd of November, 1980 by way of clearing the various cash crops and life crops and other properties of the plaintiffs on the land with the use of heavy caterpillar and bulldozers.
3
Injunction restraining the defendant, his servant, agents or any other person acting for him from committing any further acts of trespass on the land.”

At the trial court, the parties exchanged pleadings and adduced evidence. The root of title of the plaintiffs, as pleaded, firmly rests on traditional history. The case of the defence as pleaded and testified upon was that the land in dispute formed part of a larger parcel of land which belongs to the Matanmi family of Ijoko. They testified that Ijoko was founded by Matanmi their great-grand father.

They gave evidence leading to the chain of events and transmission of authority in the Ijoko land from their founder to the present generation of defendants.

The defendants testified on acts of ownership on Ijoko land including the land in dispute as they sold, granted, conveyed and farmed on various portions of the Ijoko land.

It was claimed that rather than dismissing the case of the plaintiffs, the learned trial judge, strangely proceeded to consider facts in recent time which are non-existent to determine which of the traditional evidence proffered more probable and thereafter entered judgment is for the plaintiffs.

The defendants then felt irked with the stance posed by the trial judge and appealed to the court below.

The case of the appellants at the court below was that the plaintiffs did not prove their case to warrant a declaration of title being made in their favour. The appellants maintained that the trial judge, having rejected the case of the plaintiffs, ought to have dismissed their claim in its entirety.

The court below heard the appeal and dismissed same. The defendants have now made a further appeal to this court

Matanmi Vs. Dada (2013) CLR 2(i) (SC)

Judgement delivered on February 8th 2013

Brief

Facts

Issues