OGBUINYA JCA (Delivering the Lead Judgment): Thisappeal queries the correctness of the decision of the High Court of Benue State, sitting in Makurdi (hereinafter referred to as “the lower court”), coram judice: A. O. Onum J., in suit No: MHC/71/2010, delivered on 16 April 2013. The appellant and the respondents were the respective plaintiff and defendants before the lower court.
The facts of the case which metamorphosed into the appeal, are quite submissive to brevity and easy appreciation. The appellant, for and on behalf of Iornenge Bende family, asserted that the piece of land in dispute, situate and lying at Ugondo Council ward, Makurdi Local Government Area Benue State, was founded by his great grandfather including one Jabela who first settled on it. That Iorgenge Bende, the son of Jabela, inherited the disputed land. Later on, Iorgenge Bende, owing to family conflicts, went to sojourn at his mother’s place at Mbaikya, Fiidi Council Ward, near Mbaghan and that was about 40 ye…