IGUH, J.S.C. (Delivering the Leading Judgment): This is an appeal against the decision of the Court of Appeal, Enugu Division, delivered on the 23rd day of February, 1988. By this decision, the defendants/appellants' application for extension of time within which to file their brief of argument was refused but the plaintiffs/respondents' application for the dismissal of the defendants/appellants' appeal for want of prosecution was granted and the defendants/appellants' appeal was accordingly dismissed with costs.
It seems to me desirable at this stage to set out briefly the back-ground facts to the present dispute between the parties which have culminated in this appeal.
By consolidated suits numbers PHC/36/73 and PHC/37/73, the respondents, as plaintiffs, claimed against the appellants, as defendants, as follows:-
"1. A declaration that the plaintiffs are entitled to the customary right of occupancy according to Kalabari Native Law and Custom to all the piece or parcel of land know…