CaseLaw
Olohunde V. Adeyoju (2000) CLR 6(u) (SC)
Judgement delivered on June 30th 2000
Brief
Facts
The case, as presented by the plaintiff, viva voce, is that Beyioku was the Original owner of the land in dispute by first settlement. In 1975, PW5. Olalere Beyioku and other members of the Beyioku family sold the land in dispute to PW2, Daniel Wellington Aiyedun, and executed a deed of conveyance dated the 21st January, 1976 in his favour. This deed of conveyance. Exhibit G, was registered is No. 57 at page 57 in Volume 1881 of the Register of Deeds kept in the Land registry at Ibadan. Daniel Wellington Aiyedun subsequently resold the same land in 1977 to the plaintiff for the sum ofN2.600.00 per the receipt Exhibit A dated the 1st March, 1977.
The plaintiff claimed to have gone into possession of the land by clearing the same and that he planted gmelina arbona trees round its perimeter. He later applied for and was granted a certificate of statutory right of occupancy on the 9th March, 1981 by the Oyo State Government in respect of the Land. This is Exhibit B and it was registered as No. 9 at page 9 in volume 2357 of the land Registry at Ibadan. He visited the land in January, 1982 and discovered that a mosque and an access road had been constructed on the land by the 2nd defendant and that the 1st defendant deposited heaps of sand thereon and uprooted his gmelina arbona trees, hence this action.
The defendants, on the other hand, denied the above claims of the plaintiff. In particular, they denied that gmelina arbona trees were ever planted on the land. They testified that Beyioku family land was on the right hand side of the old Ibadan to Ife road, facing Ife, while their Olohunde family land is on the left. The defendants' case was that the land in dispute formed part of a large expanse of virgin land which was originally settled on by their ancestor, Olohunde, after the Kiriji war. Olohunde used the land for farming until his death when it devolved on his descendants who continued to use it for farming. They built houses on part of this land, established a mosque in 1950 thereon and had always used the access road on the land which was originally an ancient foot path. The defendants claimed to be the owners in possession of the land in dispute, having inherited it from their ancestor, Olohunde.
At the conclusion of hearing, the learned trial Judge, Oloko, J, after a review of the evidence on the 29th September, 1983 found for the plaintiff. The court accordingly granted him declaration that he was entitled to the occupation and possession of the land in dispute, damages for trespass and injunction as claimed.
Dissatisfied with this judgment of the trial court, the defendants lodged an appeal against the same to the Court of Appeal, Ibadan Division, which court in a unanimous decision on the 4th day of July, 1989 dismissed the appeal. The award of N1,100.00 as special damages to the plaintiff against the 2nd defendant by the trial court was however disallowed.
Aggrieved by this decision of the Court of Appeal, the defendants have appealed to the Supreme Court.