Alhaji Karimu Adisa v. Emmanuel Oyinwola and 4 Others (2000) 6 S.C.N.J. 290

Abstract

Introduction
The Land Use Act ("the Act") was enacted in 1978 amongst other reasons, to unifying the law governing the incidence of land holding in Nigeria. To a large extent the Act extended the position under the Land Tenure Law, which at that time was applicable to Northern Nigeria, to the other parts of the federation. For example the requirement of Governor's consent and the grant of a term of years to a certificate holders were imported from the provisions of the Land Tenure Law. The Act that was meant to simplify land holding in Nigeria soon after its promulgation was faced with serious problems of interpretation. To mention a few, the courts have had to determine the effect of not obtaining the consent of the Governor under the Act; the position of the Customary Tenant and whether Civilian Governors are successor to Military Governors?
Unfortunately the problem of interpretation that bedeviled the Act from inception is still very much around. The most current problem deals with the jurisdiction of the High Court of a State to entertain a dispute arising from a customary right of occupancy issued under the Act. The issue is so fundamental in Nigerian legal system because "jurisdiction" is the foundation of the power of the court to exercise judicial power in an action brought before it for adjudication. It is for this reason that our legal jurisprudence permits the court to raise the issue suo motu while parties may raise the issue of jurisdiction for the first time even on appeal. The
jurisdictional issue under the Act arises from the interpretation of Sections 39 and 41 of the Act.