GBADAMOSI SANUSI OLORUNFEMI & ORS V. CHIEF RAFIU EYINLE ASHO & ORS

AYOOLA, JSC (Delivering the Leading Judgment): This judgment relates to an appeal and a cross-appeal from the decision of the Court of Appeal (Kolawole, Tobi and Ubeazonu, JJCA). The respondents ("the plaintiffs") sued the appellants ("the defendants") in the High Court of Lagos State claiming damages for trespass allegedly committed by the defendants on land at Akesan village sometime in December 1983 and injunction. The defendants, on their own, counterclaimed against the plaintiffs for a declaration of customary right of occupancy to the land in dispute, damages for trespass and injunction. The High Court (Onalaja, J, as he then was) after taking evidence on the claim and the counterclaim, dismissed the plaintiff's claim in its entirety. He granted the declaration sought by the defendants and restrained the plaintiffs from further acts of trespass on the land claimed by the defendants. He rejected the defendant's claim for damages for trespass. The plaintiffs appealed to the Court …