ADIO, J.C.A. (Delivering the Leading Judgment): The claim of the respondent, who was the plaintiff in the Area Court, Nyamatsor, holden at Abwa, Benue State, was as follows:
"The plaintiff claims his area of farmland from you defendant."
The evidence led in the trial Area Court by the respondent was that the land in dispute belonged to his forefathers and that he (respondent) used to accompany them to the farm land when he was young. He left the area when he grew up but left his elder brother, Achiaga Shie, in charge of the farm.
Subsequently, the appellants went to disturb his older brother on the farm and committed various acts of trespass there under the pretext that the farmland belonged to one Oramee Enze who purported to grant a portion of the aforesaid farmland to each of them. The allegation was that Oramee Enze had sued the elder brother of the respondent, Achiaga Shie, for the same farmland and won. The appellants, therefore, relied on the plea of res judicata. The trial Ar…