By O’starEze
The Supreme Court has upheld the ownership claim of
the people of Umuagama village (Ukwulu) and Oranto/Akpu village (Ukpo)
in Anambra state to a disputed parcel of land that had pitched them
against their neighbours in Okpuloji Abba Town.
In upholding the
respondents’ claim, the apex court dismissed the appeal against the
decision of the Court of Appeal, Enugu which had earlier made similar
findings.
A five-man panel of the court, headed by Justice
Olabode Rhodes-Vivour, resolved all the four issues, identified for
determination, in favour of the two sets of respondents – listed as
representatives of Umuagama village (Ukwulu) and Oranto/Akpu village
(Ukpo).
Court documents revealed that the people of Okpuloji Abba
Town, Umugama Village Ukwulu and Oranto/Akpu Village (Ukpo) have been
locked in dispute over the parcel of land in the area since early
1970.They went before the High Court of Anambra in 1975 in a suit
marked: AA/53/75 and a subsequent one filed in 1977, marked: AA/11/77.
Both
suits were later consolidated, and in a judgment by then Chief Judge of
the court, Justice Obiora Nwazota, delivered on November 12, 1999, the
court declared the title of the disputed land in favour of the people of
Umuagama Village (Ukwulu) and Oranto/Akpu Village (Ukpo).
Okpuloji
Abba Town, through its representatives – Uyaemenam Nwora, Eric Uzoma,
Emesi Okeke, Gabriel Okoye and NwudeIgweonuwu – appealed the decision at
the Court of Appeal, Enugu.
The Court of Appeal, Enugu, in its
final decision on June 27, 2016 dismissed the substantive appeal on the
grounds that the appellants failed to compile and transmit record of
appeal within the stipulated period, as provided in Order 8 Rule 4 of
the Court of Appeal Rules 2011.
The court also dismissed the
appellants’ motion, in which they had sought to direct the Chief Judge
of the High Court of Anambra state to re-assign the consolidated suit
for hearing afresh, on the grounds that the court’s Chief Registrar had
declared the record of proceedings missing.
Uyaemenam Nwora, Eric
Uzoma, Emesi Okeke, Gabriel Okoye and NwudeIgweonuwu, acting for
Okpuloji Abba Town, subsequently appealed to the Supreme Court, in SC:
589/2016.
The appeal had Nweke Nwabueze, Phillip Okoro and Reuben
Ifeka, representing Umugama Village Ukwulu (as the first set of
respondents) and Nwoye Ofoedu, EkemekaOmogu, Ichie Titus Okeke and
EuguneOtunabo, representing Oranto/Akpu Village, Ukpo (as the second set
of respondents).
Justice Paul AdamuGalinje, who read the lead
judgment of the Supreme Court’s decision on February 15, 2019, held that
the appellants failed to sustain their allegation of denial of fair
hearing and miscarriage of justice.
Justice Galinje said it was
the fault of the appellants that they failed to ensure the compilation
and transmission of record of appeal within time, as required under
order 8 rule 4 of the Court of Appeal Rules 2011.
In upholding
the Court of Appeal’s dismissal of the appellants’ motion, Justice
Galinje held that the appellants were wrong to have filed their motion,
for retrial, at the Court of Appeal.
He said the motion ought to
be filed at the trial court, since the appellants’ appeal was not yet
properly before the Court of Appeal, and because they were yet to
compile and transmit the record of appeal then.
Justice Galinje
however advised parties to the dispute to return to the trial court to
have the case re-heard because it might be difficult to enforce a
judgment, which record is said to be missing from the trial court.
The
judge added: “In the instant case there is in place what I may call
“force major,” an unexpected occurrence, which has the capacity to
defeat even the enforcement of the judgment obtained at the trial court
in the two consolidated suits.
“It follows therefore that, if
nothing is done, there will be a total failure of justice. The loss of
the record of the appeal is a factor that has in my view vitiated and
rendered the judgment invalid.
“Is there a way of enforcing the
judgment in the absence of the record of the case? This is what may
unfold later. I think it is in the best interest of the parties to go
back to the trial court and sort out this mess,” the judge said.
Justice
Galumje rejected the appellants’ contention that they ought not to be
penalised for not compiling and transmitting record when the trial
court’s Chief Registrar had said the record of proceedings was missing.
The judge said that the appellants were not diligent in their handling of the appeal at the Court of Appeal, Enugu.
He
stated: “In this matter, the appeal was filed on the 18th November,
1999. The appellants applied for and obtained a stay of execution of the
judgment that had adjudged them trespassers on a piece of land, upon
which title was declared in favour of the two sets of respondents.
“Thereafter, the appellants stayed away from the trial court and refused to take steps to fulfil the condition of the appeal for four years until on the 31st of October, 2003 when they deposited the sum of N10,000 on the prompting of the respondents who wrote and complained to the Chief Registrar about the appellants’ failure to take steps to prosecute the appeal.”
Source:- Orientaldailynews
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