OGEBE, JCA (Delivering the Lead Judgment): The appellant sued the respondent in the High Court, Aba, claiming two parcels of land called “Okpulo” and “Umuagbagha”. According to the appellant, one Ogbonna
Nnakwu, the head of Umuagbai family, sold the parcels of land to him in 1957. He took possession of the lands and in 1963, he got a surveyor to survey the land. He remained on the land undisturbed until the 1967 civil war. After the civil war, he came back and continued to use the land until 1976, when the respondent broke and entered upon the land. It was agreed by both sides that Ogbonna Nnakwu had a dispute with the respondent in suit No. A/35/71 over a piece of land and lost. The appellant’s case was that that land disputed between Ogbonna Nnakwu and the respondent was a different piece of land from the one now in dispute.
The respondent said it was the same land. The respondent claimed that that land was sold to him and he had been in possession ever since. The original parties t…