KARIBI-WHYTE, J.S.C. (Delivering the Leading Judgment): On the 13th February 1990, the Court of Appeal, Kaduna Division in an unanimous judgment read by Okay Achike, J.C.A. for which Uthman Mohammed, and Ogundere J.C.A. concurred, dismissed the appeal of the appellants against the judgment of the High Court, Kaduna in its appellate jurisdiction, this appeal is against the judgment of the Court of Appeal. It will be of considerable assistance in the elucidation of the real issue in this appeal to trace the genesis of this litigation even if very briefly from the court of trial.
One Mallam Maude, the predecessor of the respondents, brought an action as plaintiff against the six appellants, as defendants in the Area Court Soba, for the return of his father's farmland situate at Matari in the Soba District of the then Zaria Local Government Area. Mallam Maude claimed that the disputed land was entrusted to Sarkin Matari. He also alleged that the farms were given on loan to the appellants…