CORAM
M.E. OGUNDARE – JUSTICE, SUPREME COURT
A.G. KARIBI-WHYTE – JUSTICE, SUPREME COURT
S.U. ONU – JUSTICE, SUPREME COURT
A.I. IGUH – JUSTICE, SUPREME COURT
PARTIES
SALIHU OKINO(For Ezionogu Clan of Eganyi) APPELLANTS
RESPONDENTS
AREA(S) OF LAW
SUMMARY OF FACTS
The Plaintiffs’ case, briefly, is that they are the owners of the five pieces or parcels of farm land in dispute known as and called Usoko, Igege, Uhomiri, Ogane and Uwowiri. They claimed that they were therefore entitled to all compensation payable by the 2nd Defendant in respect of parts of the farm lands in dispute affected by the Ajaokuta- Itakpe rail line. They prayed for the order of court in terms of their claims. ?
HELD
That the opinion of Uthman Mohammed was duly pronounced and the evidence before the Court was properly evaluated ?
ISSUES
(i) Whether the Court of Appeal was properly constituted when it delivered its judgment in the appeal on the 9th day of June, 1993. (ii) Whether the judgment of the Court of Appeal, the subject matter of this appeal is legally valid, constitutional and/or otherwise unimpeachable.(iii) Whether the Court of Appeal was right to have set aside the judgments of the Appellate High Court and the trial Upper Area Court to order a retrial of the suit.
RATIONES DECIDENDI
WHEN A JUDGMENT WILL BE GIVEN WITHOUT JURISDICTION
where the opinion of an absent Justice even though written at a time he was a member of the relevant court is read as against being pronounced after he had ceased to be a member of such relevant court by elevation to a higher bench, death, dismissal or retirement, such an opinion would be given without jurisdiction and would consequently be a nullity.-Per Anthony I. Iguh JSC
PRESUMPTION OF REGULARITY
The legal presumption of regularity, omnia praesumutur rite esse acta which principally, is applied to judicial and official acts. per Anthony I. Iguh JSC
CASES CITED
Akinloye and Another v Eyiyola and others (1968) NMLR. 92 at 95Alhaji Aminu Ishola v Societe Generale Bank (Nig.) Ltd. (1997) 2 NWLR(Pt. 488) 405Amadi v Nwosu (1992) 5 NWLR (Part 241) 273 of 280
STATUTES REFERRED TO
The Court of Appeal Act, 1976The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1979