EMCHY CONSTRUCTION COMPANY LIMITED & CHIEF OYOYO UBENE OYO ITA V. CHIEF EKPO EFIO ENANG, CHIEF OKON EFFIONG EFFIOM, CHIEF EDEM BASSEY OKON, MR. CHIEF EDEM EYO EFFIOM, MR. EFFIOM BUTT, MR. EDEM EFFIONG EFFIOM & MR. EDEM EFFIONG EDET

ADAMU JAURO, J.S.C. (Delivering the Lead Judgment): This appeal is against the judgment of the Court of Appeal, Calabar Division in Appeal No. CA/C/243/2018, wherein the lower Court dismissed the Appellants' appeal and affirmed the judgment of the High Court of Justice Cross River State, which had granted the Respondents' claims and dismissed the Appellants' counterclaim. The Court below also allowed the Respondents' cross-appeal which touched on the quantum of damages awarded by the trial Court. 

SUMMARY OF FACTS

The Respondents, as Plaintiffs, commenced the action originally against three Defendants. The name of the 1st Defendant was however struck out in the course of the proceedings. The case of the Respondents in a nutshell was that the land that is the subject matter of the suit belonged to Ikot Efio Enang Village and through the Ikot Efio Enang Village Council, the village usually allocates its land to indigenes and non-indigenes for farming and other purposes, but the land would…