K. ESO, J.S.C. (Delivering the Leading Judgment): This appeal is against the decision of Adeoba, J., sitting at Ikeja High Court. In that court, the plaintiffs, who are the respondents in this appeal, had sought -
"1.declaration of title and possession of a plot of land measuring approximately 50 feet by 100 feet situate lying and being at No. 11, Ijero Street, Ikate in Lagos State;
2. general damages of N200 for trespass; and
3. injunction restraining the Defendant, his agents and/or servants from further trespassing on the said land."
The court ordered pleadings and they were delivered. The case of the plaintiffs, as stated in their Statement of Claim, is that they got a grant of the land in dispute from the Ikate Chieftaincy family. That family, plaintiffs alleged, had been the absolute owners, under native law and custom, from time immemorial, of a vast area of land at Ikate. The Statement of Claim went on-
"6. The Plaintiffs also aver that the said Ikate family put them in poss…