Supreme Court resolves ownership claim to Osun land

Supreme Court resolves ownership claim to Osun land

UNABLE to sway the mind of the court, five families in Osun State have finally lost their bid to maintain ownership claim to a vast landed property in Osun, courtesy of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.

  The judgment affected Alhaji Oseni Olaniyan, Chief Buraimoh Dunmoye Balogun, Alabi Lasisi, J. Adio and Lateef Adeleke, who were sued by a late Abiodun Fatoki.  But while the suit lasted, Fatoki passed, and his wife, Chief Mrs. E.T. Fatoki substituted him.

  On appeal, Fatoki was the respondent, having won the case but at the trial court and Court of Appeal, respectively.

  At the Osun State High Court, the respondent as administratix of the estate of her late husband, Chief A. Fatoki, claimed against the appellants damages for trespass on the land located along Ede-Osogbo road, Ofatedo Area, Osogbo covered by deed of conveyance of 13th March 1975 and registered as No. 2 at page 2 in volume 1706 of the Lands Registry at the office in Ibadan.  She also sought a perpetual injunction restraining the appellants, their servants, agents and/or privies from committing further acts of trespass on the respondent’s land.

  The appellants filed their statement of defence wherein they counter-claimed for damages for trespass committed by the respondent, her servants, agent or privies on the controversial land.  They also asked for an injunction restraining the respondent from committing acts of trespass on the land in dispute.

  The respondent’s case was that her late husband in 1975 acquired the land in dispute from the paramount ruler of Ede, the Timi of Ede, by a deed of conveyance registered as No 2 at page volume 1706. Timi Ladosu became possessed of the land through his ancestor Timi Afinju, the then Timi of Ede, who initially acquired the land by conquest.  Timi Afinju subsequently settled many people as his customary tenants on various parts of the entire land such as Ido-Osun, Ofatedo, Awo, Iwaye, Ara, Sekona, Oloki and others.

  Late Mr. Fataki, the respondent’s husband, in his lifetime, exercised rights of possession and ownership on the land, and on his demise his wife further asserted and continued exercising possessor and ownership rights over the same parcel of land, warding off trespassers by erecting large signboards on it.  In 1994, Fatoki further claimed that the appellants wrongfully entered the land, removed the ten signboards erected on the land by the former.  The appellants continued to stay on the land in spite of repeated warnings.

  On the other hand, the appellants’ case was that, the land in dispute known as Ofatedo was never owned by the Timi of Ede.  Each of the appellants stated that his great grandfather acquired the land in dispute through inheritance from his father or uncle who in turn inherited same from his father.

  Giving the historical background on how the became owners of the land, the appellants said that following an appeal by Oba Adegboye, Osungbekun allocated to their ancestors the area known as Ofatedo, which includes the area dispute.  Further, they said Oba Atoloye granted to each Bale a parcel of land from the area allotted to him by Osungbekun.  Since then, they claimed, their ancestors through whom their fathers and the inherited enjoyed possessory and ownership rights over the parcel of land until the respondent bulldozed the land and destroyed their crops, which act explained the appellants’ counter-claim.

  Upon conclusion of hearing, the trial court in its judgment on 8th May 1998 found the respondent’s case established.  The court, found that Fatoki had made out her case while the appellants and counter-claimants did not.  The court consequently declared title in favor of the former, while it held the appellants liable for trespass.  Appellants’ counter-claim was equally dismissed.

  Aggrieved by trial court’s foregoing decision, the appellants appealed to the Court of Appeal, Ibadan Division.  The Appeal Court in its judgment of 6th May 2003 dismissed the appellants’ appeal and affirmed the trial court’s judgment.

  Still dissatisfied, the appellants appealed to the Supreme Court, which conclusively unanimously dismissed the appeal.

 In his lead judgment, Justice Musa Dattijo Muhammad said he agreed with the lower court’s reasoning, as the respondent, was adjured to have established her title to the land.

  “I cannot agree more.  Having established that the land in dispute was conveyed to her late husband by Oba Adetoyese Laoye , the then Timi of Ede by virtue of exhibit ‘A’, a deed of conveyance; that the in dispute had evolved on the said Oba Laoye from the first Timi of Ede, who had conquered the place and became the original owner of land… the appellants are estopped from relegating the fact of the land in dispute belonging to the said Oba Laoye and further fact that the appellants were customary tenants of the Timi of Ede, a decision other than that of the trial court as affirmed by the court below is impossible.”

  His lordship continued: “With learned appellants’ counsel failure to demonstrate that the findings of the two courts are neither based on pleadings and evidence on record nor that they suffer such short comings that have occasioned any miscarriage of justice, the decision of the court below affirming the trial court’s earlier finding must persist. I so hold.”

  According to Muhammad, …I resolve the crucial issues raised by the appellants against them, find no merit in their appeal and dismiss same.  I award costs of this appeal, the appeal at the court below and of the suit at the trial court assessed cumulatively at N300,000.00 against the appellants in favor of the respondent.”