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 respondemts’ 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 Nwude Igweonuwu –
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
Nwude Igweonuwu, 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, Ekemeka Omogu, Ichie Titus Okeke and
Eugune Otunabo, representing Oranto/Akpu Village, Ukpo (as the
secont set of respondents).
Justice Paul Adamu Galumje, 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 Galumje 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 Galumje 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 Galumje 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 noted that the appellants were not diligent in their
handling of the appeal at the Court of Appeal, Enugu.
He noted: “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
tour 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.”