CHIOMA EGONDU NWOSU-IHEME (Ph. D). J.C.A.(Delivering the Leading Judgment): The property in dispute at the lower court from which the present appeal arose was No. 4 Lagos Street, Benin City. That property was said to have been owned by one Latunji Balogun who died in 1958 and who was the father of the Respondents and the 2nd Appellant in this appeal.
Following the sale of the property to the 3rd Appellant by the 2nd Appellant and subsequent destruction of same by 1st Appellant and some unnamed and unknown persons, the Respondents (as Plaintiffs) commenced an action at the High Court of Benin Judicial Division against the Appellants (as Defendants) and in their amended statement of claim formulated their claims in the following terms:
"(1) A DECLARATION that the parcel of land measuring 50 feet by 100 feet where house No. 4, Lagos Street, Benin City was built is the bonafide property of the Plaintiffs, having validly inherited same from their late mother who died intestate in 1993.
(2)…