The Plaintiff, a former civil servant and an Ibo man, lived in Ikom before the Nigerian Civil War which started in May, 1967. He acquired by lease from the natives of Etayip in Ikom two parcels of land known as plots 127 and 128. They were covered by deeds of lease dated 8 June, 1959 and registered as No.16 at page 16 in volume 48 and No.17 at page 17 in volume 48 respectively in the Lands Registry Office in Calabar. He developed the plots by erecting a number of houses thereon. He became a trader in farm produce after he resigned in 1956 from the post of Assistant Conservator of Forests. He said he left Ikom on 11 August, 1967 for Agbani on a business trip with a view to returning the following day. But on his way back he found that the bridge at Yahe had been blown off as a result of war activities. He could not return to Ikom until March, 1970 after the cessation of war in January of that year. In the meantime, the then South-Eastern State Government promulgated the Deserted Property (Control and Management) (South-Eastern State) Edict No. 10 of 1970. Section 3 of the said Edict provided thus:

"For the purposes of this Edict every movable or immovable property within the State held or reputed to be held in any estate, right or interest by a person of non-South-Eastern State origin who fled or remained away from the said property at or following the outbreak of the late rebellion is deemed to be deserted and is hereinafter referred to as "deserted property.' "

In coming to the conclusion that the Plaintiff was caught by the above-stated provision of the Edict No.10 of 1970, the learned trial Judge, Ecoma C.J., observed thus:

"The Plaintiff's statement in his statement of claim and also his testimony in Court is that he left Ikom for Agbani in order to check his produce store and had hoped to return to Ikom on the following day. He said he could not return because the Yahe bridge was blown off, This was in 1967. He did not return to Ikom until the civil war ended in 1970. This is a substantial evidence for me to hold that he 'remained away' from Ikom and from the property and that he is a person of non-South-Eastern State origin."

The learned Judge, following from this conclusion, later held that as soon as the Plaintiffs properties were taken into custody by the designated Custodian under Edict No. 10 of 1970, they became abandoned properties. But the Court of Appeal, although agreeing that the Plaintiff was "physically not in touch with the properties, held that he did not desert them, per Tobi JCA. The Court allowed the appeal against the judgment of Ecoma CJ.

As a result of that holding and others related to it, leading to the judgment of the trial Court being set aside, the 2nd Defendant (now Appellant) has appealed against the judgment of the Court below