CORAM

SYLVESTER UMARU ONU JUSTICE, SUPREME COURT

IBRAHIM TANKO MUHAMMAD, JUSTICE, SUPREME COURT (Lead Judgment)

DENNIS ONYEJIFE EDOZIE JUSTICE, SUPREME COURT

PARTIES

1. OBA J. A. AREMO II (The Alakungba of Akungba) APPELLANTS

RESPONDENTS

AREA(S) OF LAW

SUMMARY OF FACTS

The plaintiff instituted action when the government refused to accept the commission of inquiry report over the chieftaincy dispute which arose before 1979.

HELD

The court held that the plaintiff’s cause of action arose before 1979 when courts had no jurisdiction over chieftaincy matters and that the action was statute barred.

ISSUES

1.  If it is correct as the Court of Appeal held that the cause of action occurred and accrued pre 1979, which is denied, did the decision of the 2nd Respondent as contained in Exh.l, not amount to re-acknowledgment of the cause of action under the Doctrine of Re- occurrence of cause of action in Torts.2. Whether the Court of Appeal, Benin was correct in law in holding that the action of the Appellant is statute barred and ipso facto. that the Court lacks jurisdiction, having found that the action of the Appellant was instituted to challenge the decision of the 2nd Respondent contained in Exh.l , which was made in 1982 when the 1979 Constitution was in operation.

RATIONES DECIDENDI

CASES CITED

Oloba V. Akereja (1988) 3 N.W.L.R. (Pt.84) 508Nwosu V. Imo State Environmental Sanitation Authority (1990) 2 N.W.L.R. (Pt.135) 715Adeyemi V. Adeyori (1976) 9-10 SC 31, Izenkwe V. Nnaedozie (1953) 14 W.A.C.A.361Governor of Oyo State V. Folayan (1995) 9 SCNJ 50 at 64,Mustapha V. Governor of Lagos State (1987) 2 N. W.L.R. (Pt.58) 539,Alao V. Akano (1988) 1 N.W.L.R. (Pt.71) 431;Uwaifo V. Attorney-General Bendel State (1982) 7 SC 124

STATUTES REFERRED TO

The Limitation Law of Western Region of Nigeria, Cap 61, 1959

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