Daniel Awudu & Anor V. Rautha Daniel & Anor (2004)

LawGlobal-Hub Lead Judgment Report

IFEYINWA CECILIA NZEAKO, J.C.A. 

On the 2nd of December, 1999, Andetur, J., sitting at the High Court of Justice of Taraba State of Nigeria, Wukari Division, delivered judgment in favour of the plaintiffs in suit No. TRSW/2/99.

In the action, the plaintiffs/respondents by their amended writ of summons had sought the following reliefs against the defendants jointly and severally:-

(a) A declaration that the plaintiffs under the Jukun native law and custom to which they belong, the 1st defendant bound to provide shelter for the plaintiffs who are his legitimate children.

(b) A declaration that the plaintiffs as children to the 1st defendant are entitled as of right under Jukun (Kente) native law and customs to inherit the said property from their said father.

(c) A declaration that the purported sale of the one which the plaintiffs were born and brought up and still occupy as their father’s compound is null and void and of no effect whatsoever for the reason contained in paragraph (a) above.

(d) A declaration that the purported sale of the said compound (property) by the 1st defendant to the 2nd defendant is void for want of authority and or consent of the plaintiffs who as members of the family contributed to the building of the houses in the property.

(e) Perpetual injunction restraining the defendants by themselves, their agents, servants, privies or whosoever claiming through themfrom ejecting or tampering with the plaintiffs’ peaceful possession and enjoyment of the said property.

(f) And such other orders the court may deem fit to make in the circumstance.

Both parties filed amended statement of claim and defence respectively and proffered evidence at the trial. The plaintiffs called six witnesses including the 1st plaintiff. The defendants called four witnesses including the two defendants.

A central issue in the pleadings and evidence before the court was the establishment of the customary law of the Jukun tribe relating to the duties of a father to his children to provide accommodation and maintenance, and the status of property on which the father had lived with his wife and his six children, born thereon, and lived all their lives and which he contrived to sell without providing them alternative accommodation or consulting them.

The two plaintiffs are the two oldest children of the 1st defendant. The 2nd defendant is a man to whom the 1st defendant sold the property wherein he resided, since 1968 to 1998, with his wife and the children. The plaintiffs brought the action in a representative capacity for themselves and their younger brothers and sisters.

The learned trial Judge made the following orders which embody his findings:

(a) That the 1st defendant, being the father of the plaintiffs is bound by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1979, and Jukun native law and custom to provide shelter to plaintiffs who are his legitimate children.