ALHAJI USMAN MAGAJI V. MAIDOROWA MATARI

A. B. WALI, JSC (Delivering the Leading Judgment): Following the order for a retrial made by the Sharia Court of Appeal Bauchi in 1986, the plaintiff Maidorowa Matari lodged the following complaint in the Nabardo Area Court against the defendant Alhaji Usman Magaji -

"I sued (sic) the defendant about the farm land I inherited from my late father (called Zaranda), which the defendant took to use with the assertion that it is his own. And this is land that has been cultivated long ago by my parents, then how could the defendant a stranger as he is could claim its ownership just of a sudden?"

The defendant Alhaji Usman Magaji denied the plaintiff's claim with the assertion that he inherited the farmland in dispute from his father, Magaji.

The learned trial Judge after hearing evidence called by the plaintiff and the defendant in proof of their respective claims, visited the farmland in dispute in company of the parties and their witnesses and decided as follows:-

"In my opinion since the…