CORAM

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IKECHI FRANCIS OGBUAGU JUSTICE, SUPREME COURT

IKECHI FRANCIS OGBUAGU JUSTICE, SUPREME COURT

IKECHI FRANCIS OGBUAGU JUSTICE, SUPREME COURT

IKECHI FRANCIS OGBUAGU JUSTICE, SUPREME COURT

IKECHI FRANCIS OGBUAGU JUSTICE, SUPREME COURT

IKECHI FRANCIS OGBUAGU JUSTICE, SUPREME COURT

IKECHI FRANCIS OGBUAGU JUSTICE, SUPREME COURT

IKECHI FRANCIS OGBUAGU JUSTICE, SUPREME COURT

IKECHI FRANCIS OGBUAGU JUSTICE, SUPREME COURT

BODE RHODES-VIVOUR     JUSTICE. SUPREME COURT

IKECHI FRANCIS OGBUAGU JUSTICE, SUPREME COURT

IKECHI FRANCIS OGBUAGU JUSTICE, SUPREME COURT

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PARTIES

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ILIYA AKWAI LAGGA APPELLANTS

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 AUDI YUSUF SARHUNA

RESPONDENTS 

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AREA(S) OF LAW

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SUMMARY OF FACTS

The Upper Area Court and the High Court refused to evaluate the evidence led by the parties with respect to the land in dispute but instead administered oath taking on the parties in sharing the land equally amongst the them. The court of appeal re-evaluated the evidence and gave judgment in favour of the respondent.

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HELD

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The court held that the Court of Appeal was right in re-evaluating the evidence and giving judgment in favour of the respondent. ?

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ISSUES

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1. Whether the dismissal of the appellant’s case after setting aside the judgments of the trial court and that of the High Court sitting on appeal was proper and did not occasion a miscarriage of justice in the circumstance?

2. Whether the incomplete re-evaluation of the evidence by the lower court under section 16 of the Court of Appeal Act and Order 1 Rule 20 of the Court of Appeal Rules 1981 amended after holding that the lower courts failed to evaluate the evidence before them was proper in law and did not occasion a miscarriage of justice in the circumstance of this appeal?

2. Whether or not the lower court’s proceedings and judgment are right in law and not a nullity in entertaining an appeal from the final decision of the High Court sitting in an appellate jurisdiction which failed to comply with the mandatory section 40 of Kaduna State High Court law Cap. 67 of 1991 in its jurisdiction composition and whose proceedings and judgment were incompetent null and void in law.?

 

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RATIONES DECIDENDI

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CIRCUMSTANCES WHERE THE APPELLATE COURT WILL INTERFERE WITH THE CONCURRENT FINDINGS OF FACT

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“The law, as is clear from the above authorities and several others, is that an appellate court does not ordinarily interfere with the findings of fact made by a trial court except in the following circumstances:
(a) Where the trial court has not made proper use of the opportunity of seeing and hearing of the witnesses at the trial, or
(b) Where the trial court has drawn erroneous conclusions from accepted instance or has taken erroneous view of the evidence adduced before it; or
(c) Where findings of fact are perverse in the sense that they do not flow from the evidence accepted by it”, per Muhammad J.S.C.

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ESSENCE OF OATH TAKING UNDER ISLAMIC LAW

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“No doubt, Oath taking is one of the proof systems in Islamic law since the inception of sharia legal system which confers title on a party. Although there is no law which prohibits the trial Upper Area Court judge from applying the principles of Islamic law in a land matter which is situated within an area where one of the laws governing landed properties is Islamic law, yet the trial Upper Area Court judge should have been cautious enough not to extend the application of Islamic law principles to non-Muslims, more particularly in this case where sufficient evidence was called by the parties”. Per Muhammad J.S.C.

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CASES CITED

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1. Basil v. Fajebe (2001) 11 NWIR (Pt. 725) 592 2. Imah v. Okogbe (1993) 9 NWLR (Pt.316) 1593. Onwuka v. Ediaka (1989) 1 NWLR (Pt. 96) 182;4. Akintola v. Balogun (2000) 1 NWLR (Pt. 642) 5325. Okpiri v. Jonah (1961) 1 SCNLR 174;6. Maja v. Stacco (1968) 1 All NLR 141 at 149; 7. Woluchem v. Gudi (1981) 5 SC 291 at 295 – 296;

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STATUTES REFERRED TO

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Area Courts Law, Cap. 10, Laws of Kaduna State of Nigeria, 1990?

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