CHIEF YUSUF ISHOLA ADEKOLA & 3 ORS. V. ALHAJI MOHAMMED JIMOH USMAN AILARA & 3 ORS

AGUBE JCA (Delivering the Lead Judgment): This is an appeal A against the decision of Hon. A.D. Bamigbola J. of the Kwara State High Court, Omu-Aran Judicial Division delivered on 12 December2006, wherein he struckout the claimants/appellants’ suit in its entirety uponthe application by the 1st, 2nd and 3rd respondents challenging the competence of the suit, and ipso facto , the jurisdiction of the court. The striking out order was predicated on the grounds that the appellants’ claims were withinthe purview of the provisions of the Chiefs (Appointment andDeposition) Law, Cap. 28, Laws of Kwara State of Nigeria, 1994, (now Cap. C9, 2006) and that the non-payment of the pre-action fee under section 15 of the Law by the appellants rendered the suit incompetent.

The claimants/appellants had in paragraph 40, sub-paragraphs 1-6 of their statement of claim at pages 3-8 (particularly pages 7-8) of the record sought for the following reliefs: “Whereof the claimants jointly and severally cla…