The ongoing tussle over some disputed land situated at Old Olowora Road, Isheri-oke, Lagos State between two families; Ikumoworo family and Olofin family have been moved to the Supreme Court.
Not satisfied with a judgment delivered by the Court of Appeal, Lagos Division which on March 16, 2022, upturned the judgment delivered by Justice Yetunde Idowu in favour of Princess Josephine Momoh, the IKumoworo family, through its attorney, has filed an appeal at the apex court to contest the judgment
The Ikumoworo family comprises the Onikosi, Onikoro and Oshorun families and Josephine Momoh, the claimant, is an agent of the ikumoworo family and she’s suing as an attorney of the family.
Momoh, in her grounds of appeal stated that, “the court erred in law when they held that the testimony of the appellant on the traditional history of the Ikumoworo family was very porous and inconclusive because neither PW2 nor PW4 testified on the details of intervening owners through whom they claimed the land. And thereby came to a perverse decision occasioning serious miscarriage of justice to the appellant.
“The pleadings and evidence of PW2 and PW4 agree on the fact that their progenitor was Ikumoworo and that he deforested a large portion of land including the land in dispute. The evidence of subsequent or intervening owners of part of the land in dispute cannot override or be superior to the evidence given of the first settler and founder of the large parcel of land including the land in dispute,” she averred.
The Appellant in the trial court gave evidence of the children of Ikumoworo which the land in dispute devolved on jointly by way of inheritance under Yoruba Native Law and custom.
“Therefore the Justices of the Court below did not properly evaluate the evidence of traditional history of the family as the owner of the land in dispute. The Court of Appeal erred in law when on page 30 of their judgment relied on the judgments tendered as Exhibit N, 0, 01 & Y to found in favor of the respondents as the owner of the land in dispute and thereby came to a perverse decision occasioning serious miscarriage of justice to the appellant.”
Justice Idowu of Lagos High Court, had on July 16, 2009 delivered judgment in suit delineated ID/1664/1999 filed by Princess Josephine Momoh against Oba Nurudeen Adekanbi, the Olofin of Isheri for himself and on behalf of Olofin family restrained them from trespassing on the disputed land.
The high court judge had held that the evidence of the claimant to be more probable, “I find the evidence of the claimant and witnesses to be cogent and highly probable as opposed to the confused and contradictory evidence of defendants and witnesses.
“I am inclined to exercise my discretion in favour of the claimant. The declaration sought is accordingly granted. I am unable to grant the prayer of the defendants/counter-claimants in the sought declaration.
The respondents had challenged the judgement at the Court of Appeal in a suit marked CA/L/362/2010, and had argued that the lower court ought to have considered and evaluated all the evidence tendered, including the documentary evidence of previous judgments tendered, and placed them on an imaginary scale of justice to determine where the scale tilts.
However, three-man panel of justices of Court Appeal: Jimi Olukayode Bada, Onyekhachi Aja Otisi and Abubarkar Sadiq Umar in their unanimous decision upturned the decision of the High Court.
However the case is now pending at the Supreme Court of Nigeria and All parties has been duly served with the Notice of Appeal. And this is the reason they were surprised when the Olofin family on the 12th of April 2023, brought armed police men to enforce the judgment of the Appeal Court, having first hand knowledge that the matter is now before the Supreme Court.
and then