JULIE NEZIANYA AND ORS V. ANTHONY OKAGBUE AND ANOR

ADEMOLA, CJN (Delivering the judgement of the Court): This is an appeal from the judgement of Reynolds, J., in the Onitsha Division of the High Court of Eastern Nigeria.

In that Court the plaintiffs/appellants claimed as against the defendants/respondents that they are entitled to the exclusive possession of a piece of land at 9 James Street, Onitsha, and for an injunction to restrain the defendants/respondents, their agents, servants, heirs and successors from entering the land or interfering in any way with the plaintiffs' possession.

The land is situated at Onitsha. It is not in dispute that the parties are natives of Onitsha and that they are bound by the customary law of Onitsha people in Eastern Nigeria.

The land originally belonged to one Ephraim Agha who in 1895 married one Mary Menkid under the Christian form of marriage. Ephraim had an uncle (a brother of his father) by the name Okagbue. The three defendants/respondents are descendants of Okagbue. Ephraim and Mary lived on a…