ALHAJI GARBA GIDAN KADA V. ALHAJI SALIHU GIDAN YAWA

UTHMAN MOHAMMED, J.S.C. (Delivering the Leading Judgment): This is an appeal by Alhaji Garba Gidan Kada who as plaintiff at Kotorkoshi Area Court sued Alhaji Salihu Gidan Yawa claiming repossession of a farmland which was originally cultivated by one Kado, the plaintiff's father. The case went through Kotorkoshi Area Court, Gusau Upper Area Court, Sokoto State High Court, sitting at Gusau, and the Kaduna Division of the Court of Appeal, before it arrived on appeal to the Supreme Court. The appellant lost in all the four lower courts.

The facts so far as relevant were as follows: The appellant's father, Kado, cleared the bush and established the farm in dispute. He worked in the farm until when he began to encounter some difficulties in connection with his domestic animals in Kotorkoshi district due to scarcity of grazing area. He therefore moved to a village called Rijiyar Tsakar Dawa, about 10 miles away from the farm, in Gusau District. After 27 years, the appellant, representing t…