Oba E.A. Ipinlaiye II V. Chief Julius Olukotun (1996)

LAWGLOBAL HUB Lead Judgment Report

IGUH, J .S.C. 

In the Ekiti Judicial Division of the High Court of Justice, Ondo State, the plaintiff, who is now appellant, for himself and on behalf of the entire Igasi community instituted an action against the defendant, now respondent, for himself and on behalf of the entire Ahan community, claiming as follows-

“(a) Declaration of title to a piece or parcel of land situate, lying and being at ULOGO FARMLAND in IGASI-AKOKO Division.

(b) N600.00 general damages for trespass committed by the defendants and their agents on the said piece of land.

(c) An injunction restraining the defendants and/or their agents from committing further acts of trespass on the said piece of land.”

Pleadings were ordered in the suit and were duly settled, filed and exchanged.

At the subsequent trial, both parties testified on their own behalf and called witnesses. The learned trial Judge, Ogundare, J. as he then was, at the conclusion of the addresses of learned counsel for the parties inspected the land in dispute in the presence of the parties and their counsel.

The contest over the land in dispute is between the two communities of Igasi in Akoko Division and Ahan in Omuo-Ekiti Division, both of Ondo State. Both parties, for their root of title, relied on traditional evidence and claimed to be the original owners of the land in dispute from time immemorial. Each side claimed that his ancestor was the first person to settle on the land and that they had since been exercising various acts of ownership and possession thereon without let or hindrance from any quarters.

Both parties also claimed to have granted parts of the land in dispute to the other party on payment of rent. These claims were denied severally by each of the parties. Of significance, however, is the letter, Exhibit A, which admittedly was written by the plaintiff to the defendant. Its contents, inter alia, are acknowledgement by the plaintiff that members of his community were farming on the land in dispute which belonged to the defendant.

This letter, dated the 10th September, 1972, was written in Yoruba language and was tendered with its English translation, without objection, as Exhibit A, A1. It was tendered during the cross-examination of the plaintiff for the purpose of discrediting his entire testimony.

At the conclusion of hearing, the learned trial Judge after an exhaustive review of the evidence on the 7th day of July, 1978 found for the defendant and dismissed the plaintiff’s claims in their entirety.

Dissatisfied with this decision of the trial court, the plaintiff lodged an appeal against the same to the Court of Appeal, Benin Division. The said Court of Appeal, in a unanimous judgment on the 4th day of July, 1988 dismissed the appeal and affirmed the decision of the trial court.

Aggrieved by this decision of the Court of Appeal, the plaintiff has further appealed to this court. I shall hereinafter refer to the plaintiff and the defendant in this judgment as the appellant and the respondent respectively.

The parties, pursuant to the rules of this court, filed and exchanged their written briefs of argument. The seven issues identified on behalf of the appellant which this court is called upon to determine are as follows-