<p><strong> MUHAMMAD JCA (Delivering the Lead Judgment): </strong> The Yorubas of the south-western part of the country have always had a remarkably elaborate and well defined land tenure system. The Privy Council in <em> Amodu </em> <em> Tijani v. Secretary, Southern Nigeria </em> (1921) 2 AC 399, a case alluded to by parties to this appeal, made some profound pronouncements about the system in the following terms: “ <em> The next fact which it is important to bear in mind in order to understand the native land law is that the notion </em> <em> of individual ownership is quite foreign to native ideas </em> . <em> Land belongs to the community, the village or the family, </em> <em> never to the individual. All the members of the community, or village or family have an equal right to the land, but in every case, the chief or headman of the community or village, or head of the family, has charge of the land, and </em> <em> in loose mode of speech is sometimes called owner </em> . <em> He is </em> <em> to some extent in the position of a trustee, and as such holds the land for the …</em></p>