SAVANNAH BANK (NIG.) LTD. v. AJILO : THE DECIDENDI

With the promulgation of the (Land Use Act 1978) all the unlimited rights and interest Nigerians had in their lands were swept away and substituted with very limited rights and rigid control of the use of their limited rights by the Military Governors and Local Governments. Although the 1st plaintiff / respondent by the tenor of the land Use Act committed the initial wrong by alienating his statutory right of Occupancy without prior consent in writing of the Governor the express provisions of the Land Use Act makes it undesirable to invoke the maxim "ex turpi causa non oritur actio (an action does not arise from a base cause) and the equitable principle enshrined in the case of Bucknor-Maclean v. Inlaks Ltd. (1980) 8-11 SC 1.** To exclude a holder of a deemed grant of statutory right of Occupancy from obtaining consent of the Governor would defeat the purpose of the Land Use Act particularly the provision of Section 22 thereof. The construction "ut res magit valeat quam perat" (it is better for a thing to have effect than to be made void) must be given. Although Section 1 of the Land Use Act vests in the Military Governor of each State, subject to the provisions of the Act, all lands comprised in the territory of each State in the Federation and made him a trustee to hold the land in trust and to administer it for the use and common benefit of all Nigerians in accordance with the provisions of the Act and Section 2(1)(a) placed all land in urban areas* under his control and management, the penal provisions are designed to strengthen his hand in carrying out his duties of control and management. The Military Governor is only a trustee* of land comprised in the territory of his Stat e and does not become the beneficial owner of the land** Section 2 of the Land Use Act vests in the Military Governor no love than administrative or management powers* over land in urban areas** ".....When therefore Section 34(2) of the Act converted the interest held by an owner to a statutory right of Occupancy the Act reduces him to the position of a tenant subject to the control of the State through the Governor. As a tenant he is bound by the implied and express terms of the tenancy. As one of the terms stated in the Act is that a holder requires prior consent in writing of the Military Governor to any alienation, the answer to the question for determination is in the affirmative. The holder of a statutory right of Occupancy granted by the Military Governor as contained in Section 22 of the Act, includes the implied grant in section 34(2) and 36(2) of the Act. Any failure by a holder under sections 34(2) or 36(2) of the Act to comply with his the provisions of section 22 would attract the full rigour of the section 26 of the Act and render a transaction or an instrument arising therefrom null and void. There is no doubt that the general intendment of the Land Use Act, the express words vesting title, management and control of the use of land in the Military Governor, the curtailment of the interest of land holder prescribing consent to alienation in all cases, whether the land concerned was absolutely owned or not, are clear expression of intention to abrogate vested rights. The view that the Land Use Act envisaged two categories of right holders, one granted by the Military Governor and subject to all the provisions of the Act, the other by operation of law not within the control and management of the Military Governor, is clearly wrong and inconsistent with the express words of the Act, and the mischief intended to prevent. Every holder of a right of Occupancy whether statutory or otherwise is regarded as having been granted the right by the Million Governor or Local Government as the case may be, for the purpose and control of management of all land comprised in the State. Accordingly, every holder, whether under sections 5, 34, or 36 of the Land Use Act requires the prior consent of the Military Governor before he can transfer, mortgage or otherwise dispose of his interest in the right of Occupancy**. This means that section 22 is of general application to every right holder under the Act pursuant to sections 5,34 or 36 thereof.

What is a COUNTERCLAIM?

Counter Claim is a claim on its own in the same suit whereby the defendant becomes plaintiff, while the plaintiff in the action becomes defendant for the purpose of the counter claim. See Zenith Bank Plc v. Ekereuwem (2012) 4 NWLR (Pt.1290) 207‎. The law is settled that a counter claimant must prove his claim against the person counter claimed before the counter claimant becomes entitled to judgment on the counter claim. Jericho (Nig.) Ltd. Union Bank (2000) 15 NWLR (Pt.691) 147 Where a counter claim is not meritorious it must be dismissed, failure by the plaintiff to file defence to a counter claim cannot ‎automatically entitle the counter claimant to judgment, even dismissal of the main claim in an action cannot automatically entitle a counter claimant to judgment. He must prove the claim by leading credible and satisfactory evidence establishing the counter claim, failure to prove counter claim will obviously lead to its dismissal. Ikeni v. Efamo (1996) 5 NWLR (Pt.446) 64

The issue of dumping documents on trial

When a party decides to rely on documents to prove his case there must be a link between the documents and the specific area(s) of the petition. He must relate each document to the specific area of his case for which the document was tendered. On no account must counsel dump documents on the trial court. No court would spend precious judicial time linking documents to specific areas. By mere dumping the documents which were tendered through counsel, there still remain questions or issues needing resolutions. In other words the nature of the documents that were tendered needed to be explained and related to the reason why they are produced; the identity of the witnesses through whom the documents were tendered was relevant; there was also the necessity that the documents be linked to specific areas or issues in the petition. The failure to identify the witnesses and specifically linking them to each of the documents was detrimental to the appellant's case. It is the failure of the appellant to call a witness to provide the necessary nexus between the documentary evidence tendered and the particular purpose or aspect of the case of the party tendering same that makes the difference between and the notion of dumping exhibits on the one hand and tendering bulk exhibits on the other. Buhari v. I.N.E.C (2008)18 NWLR (Pt.1120) 246 ; Ucha v. Elechi (2012) 13 NWLR (Pt.1317) 330; A.N.P.P. v. I.N.E.C (2010) 13 NWLR (Pt.1212) 549

Nuisance

Nuisance is a branch of the law of torts which is closely concerned with the protection of the environment. It covers areas such as pollution by Oil spillage or noxious fumes and other offensive smells from premises or noise generated from industrial concerns and other human activities, obstruction of public highways etc. The tort of nuisance can be conveniently categorized into public and private nuisance. A public nuisance is generally regarded as one which materially affects the reasonable comfort and convenience of life of a class of the public who came within the sphere or neighborhood of its operation. The tort would also be committed where a person carries on some activity which may in themselves not be unlawful but cause harm to or affects the general public or a section of the public. Private nuisance on the other hand may be described as an unlawful interference with a person's use or enjoyment of land, or some right over or in connection with such right. Private nuisance could therefore be in the form of physical injury of the plaintiff's property. It could also be in the nature of Interference with enjoyment of land, such as where the plaintiff is subjected to unreasonable noise or smell emanating from the defendant's neighboring land. The crucial issue in the law of private nuisance has always been how to strike a balance between the right of the defendant to use his land as he wishes, and the right of the Plaintiff to be protected from interference with his enjoyment of his own land. To strike a balance between the contending rights of the parties, the courts have held the view that, if the injury or interfere complained of is with respect to damage to land or user of such land, the injury or interference must be sensible, while if it is a case of Interference with the plaintiff's enjoyment of his land, the interference must be substantial. This is so because, the law on private nuisance is designed to protect the individual owner or occupier of land from substantial interference with his enjoyment thereof

CONTRACT:the burning issue of privity of contract

The doctrine of privity of contract portrays that as a general rule a contract affects only the parties thereto and cannot be enforced by or against a person who is not a party to it.The doctrine stipulates that only parties to a contract can sue or be sued on the contract and a stranger to a contract can neither sue for his benefitand purports to give him the right to sue or make him liable upon it.Morever the fact that a person who is a stranger to the consideration of a contract stands in such a near relationship to the party from whom the consideration proceeds that he may be considered a party to the consideration does not entitle him to sue or be sued upon the contract.Though the doctrine of privity of contract admits exceptions

Contempt of court is any act or conduct which interferes with the course of justice, and tends to bring the authority and administration of law into disrespect. The twin elements of contempt of court are, therefore, interference and disrespect. Ezenwankwo v. State (2015). 2NWLR (Pt.1443) 265

Meaning of Justice

Justice should not only be done, but should manifestly and undoubtedly be seen to be done. Justice must rooted in confidence and confidence is destroyed when right minded people go away thinking the Judge is biased. Justice is a concept of what is lawful, fair or equal. It can be classified in two categories: (a) distributive justice (b) remedial justice Injustice on the other hand, arises where equals are unequal and when unequal are treated equally U.C.H.B.M. v. Morakinyo (2014) 16 NWLR (Pt.1434) 589