GODPOWER NKEWEKE & ANOR V. NIGERIAN AGIP OIL CO. LTD
August 7, 2025CLEMENT NWANCHI V. THE STATE
August 7, 2025Legalpedia Citation: (1976) Legalpedia (SC) 99711
In the Supreme Court of Nigeria
Fri Oct 8, 1976
Suit Number: SC. 454/1975
CORAM
ALEXANDER IRIKEFE
IDIGBE CHIEF JUSTICE, NIGERIA
PARTIES
CHIEF NUMOGUN SAM ADEYEMI (for themselves and on behalf of Emila Family ) APPELLANTS
RESPONDENTS
AREA(S) OF LAW
SUMMARY OF FACTS
The plaintiff sued the defendants for trespass over a piece of land while the defendants contend that the land is a communal land which belongs to the defendants family. The court suo motu observed that the matter borders on family status and struck out the suit for want of jurisdiction.
HELD
The court held that the case be remitted to the another judge of the High court for adjudication on the merit
ISSUES
Whether the lower court was right in holding that it had no jurisdiction to entertain the action when there was no evidence led yet as to the issue of family status, and when the lower court relied only on the statements of claim and defence in deciding the issue.
RATIONES DECIDENDI
FAMILY STATUS
The question as to whether a person belongs to a certain family has in our view nothing to do with “family status”. It would be a different matter if the position of a person as head “Bale or Mogaji” of a family is called in question then his status within that family is in issue. IDIGBE, JSC
DETERMINATION OF JURISDICTION OF COURT
At the risk of over-emphasising the point we repeat that it is a fundamental principle of law that it is the claim of the plaintiff which determines the jurisdiction of a court entertaining the same, this is because only too often this point is lost sight of by courts of trial, as has happened in the instant case. IDIGBE, JSC
CASES CITED
Nimota Oluwo & Anor. v. Adebowale (1959) 4 FSC 143)
Onyemuche v. Nnadozie (1953) 14 WACA 361,
Arnold Nwafia v. Nwanakwuo Ububa (1966) NMLR 219
STATUTES REFERRED TO
High Court Law of Western Nigeria, Cap. 44
