Madam Jarawu Adeleke V. Liadi Ajadi Aserifa (1990)

LawGlobal-Hub Lead Judgment Report

BELGORE, J.S.C. 

This is a case that has its main plank mere facts, not law. The land in dispute, Exhibit A, is a part of a large portion of land first settled by one Arolu over one hundred years ago. When Arolu died he left five male children who decided to partition the land.

The five children were Odeyele, Igbinbolu, Fadunmi, Akinnilehin, and Oke Amero. The land now in dispute is a part of the portion given to Igbinbolu. The plaintiff’s father is a direct descendant of Igbinbolu. From Igbinbolu, right to Aserifa (plaintiff’s father), the land in dispute was farmed with food and economic crops.

It was during Aserifa’s time that the father of the defendant/appellant, called Adeleke who came from Adogba, prayed Aserifa to be allowed to use the portion now in issue to grow food crops, a request that was granted. The condition of this permission was payment of “Ishakole” (tribute). Adeleke continued to farm the land with food crops and plucked the few cocoa and kolanut trees still standing on the land of their fruits. Yearly Adeleke paid as “Ishakole”, yams and a gallon of palm oil. Aserifa died and none the less Adeleke faithfully continued paying Ishakole to the plaintiff/respondent.

Adeleke died in about 1957 and the plaintiff then took possession of the land; for this the appellant challenged him claiming outright title was in her father. In actual fact as found by the trial court on concrete evidence before it, her father was a customary tenant of the plaintiff’s family for about fifty years and paid the necessary tribute, “Ishakole.”

There is no doubt the appellant also descended from Arolu but that was just by the chance, a great granddaughter of Arolu, by the name Oyedele, through Arolu’s son Akinnilehin married Odunran of Adogba village resulting in the birth of Ige who was the father of Lawani Adeleke, the defendant’s father.

The appellant, (defendant) in her statement of defence avoided the female child Oyedele and placed Ige as the great grandson of Akinnilehin. In her evidence on oath, however, she could not avoid mentioning Oyedele as her paternal great grandmother. She now claims her right to the land through being a descendant of Akinnilehin; this claim is that of the outright owner, the land devolving on her from Arolu to Adeyanju to Oyedele, who as female daughter, got married to a man at Adogba who begat Ige and then Adeleke, her father.

Since Arolu, the original settler on the large expanse of land died leaving five male children who shared the land between themselves, the descendant of each child then held their respective portions communally and Akinmilehin and Odeyele descendants formed two distinct communities. The defendant belonged to Akinnilehin and the plaintiff (respondent) to Odeyele, who was the direct paternal grandfather of Igbinbolu. The burden on the plaintiff to prove his title was accepted as discharged by the learned trial Chief Judge when he held after summarising traditional practice:

“…some of the principles of customary law about land tenure in Yorubaland are:

(i) that land usually belongs to the community, the village or the family but rarely to the individual;

(ii) that on the death of an original owner of land his land is inherited, by his descendants and thus becomes family land; and

(iii) the fact that a head of family gives land to a member of the family to farm upon does not make the land the property of that member; that land still remains family land.”

“On the death of Arolu therefore, his land became family land in which every member of the family has an interest. I believe that Arolu had five children as contended by the plaintiff and his witnesses and that on Arolu’s death his five children Odeyele, Igbinbolu, Fadunmi, Akinnilehin and Oke Amero succeeded to Arolu’s land.

I disbelieve the defendant when she said one Adeyanju was a direct child of Arolu. I also disbelieve the defendant when she said that Arolu in his lifetime gave the land in dispute to the said Adeyanju absolutely.”