OGUNTADE, J.S.C (Delivering the Leading Judgment): This is an interlocutory appeal arising out of a suit which was commenced 32 years ago on 14-4-76. Remarkably, when on 17-4-96, the trial court gave the ruling which is the foundation of this appeal, the trial of the suit to conclusion had been aborted a few times. The plaintiffs, who brought the suit had been locked in a bitter dispute as to who of them should pursue the suit as representatives of their Umudike Family.
At the commencement of the suit, six persons initiated the suit as plaintiffs for and on behalf of Umudike family of Uzoakwa Ihiala against 13 persons who were sued as the representatives of Umumeri family of lhiala. The plaintiffs claimed the ownership of a parcel of land known as "Okpuno Dike Ezeala: They claimed for declaration of title, ₦5,000.00 damages for trespass and injunction restraining the defendants from committing further acts of trespass on the land.
The defendants denied that the plaintiffs were the o…