23/01/2026
Justice Delayed but Not Denied: A Case of Twenty Two Year Customary Land Dispute
In 2020, I inherited a land dispute that had remained unresolved for approximately twenty two years from a friend in our neighboring state who relocated to Canada, a case in which injustice had been buried under prolonged litigation, procedural delays, and forum shopping. The matter had travelled endlessly between different dispute resolution mechanisms, ranging from village arbitration to multiple courts, without any meaningful progress. When the plaintiff first came to my office, he was emotionally broken. He wept uncontrollably as he recounted the enormous financial and psychological burden of spending over two decades in search of justice.
The dispute was rooted in a polygamous family structure, a common feature of customary land conflicts in Nigeria. The deceased patriarch had first married his first wife, with whom he had five sons. Over time, serious marital disagreements arose, and around 1979 the first wife left the matrimonial home. She relocated to the other side of their village, where she commenced the construction of her own building. The man, however, remained in his ancestral mud house with his second wife, who is the mother of the plaintiff.
In or about 1981, the second wife, who was a teacher at the time, requested a portion of land from her husband for the purpose of building a house for herself and the children .The husband willingly granted her a clearly identifiable portion of his land. Acting upon this grant, she surveyed and registered the land, obtained an approved building plan, and commenced construction in 1982. Upon completion of the building, she moved into the house with her husband, who by then was seriously ill. The husband continued to reside in the house until his death in 1987.
For several decades thereafter, the second wife and her children remained in peaceful and undisturbed possession of the property. However, in 2001, the first son of the deceased suddenly resurfaced. He left the house built by her mother and abandoned the dilapidated ancestral mud house previously occupied by his father to forcefully asserted exclusive ownership rights over the house built by the second wife. His claim was premised on the assertion that the property constituted isiobi under customary law, thereby vesting exclusive ownership in him as the first son.
The dispute was initially subjected to village arbitration, where judgment was unanimously delivered in favour of my client. The decision reflected the collective knowledge of the community, as the factual history of the land and the building was well known to all concerned. Dissatisfied with the outcome, the first son who is the opposing party disregarded the arbitral decision and instituted an action in court. My client counterclaimed, and at a point, the defendant abandoned his own suit entirely.
Upon assuming conduct of the case, I resolved to confront the delays that had plagued the matter for years. Through focused advocacy and procedural discipline, judgment was delivered in favour of my client at the trial court within a period of less than eighteen months.
Unwilling to accept defeat, the defendant appealed to the Customary Court of Appeal, where the judgment was again affirmed. Still dissatisfied, he further appealed to the Court of Appeal. The Court of Appeal unequivocally held that a valid gift of land by a husband to his wife for the purpose of building is recognised under customary law. The court further held that the mere fact that the husband later moved into the house with his wife did not transform the property into isiobi. This pronouncement finally settled the core legal issue in dispute.
That decision effectively brought the long running litigation to an end. The defendant lacked the capacity to pursue a further appeal to the Supreme Court, and in any event, the statutory period within which to exercise a right of appeal had elapsed.
Justice in Nigeria is often neither swift nor straightforward. This case, however, stands as a powerful reminder that persistence, sound legal strategy, and faith in the judicial process can ultimately prevail. Although justice was delayed for over two decades, it was not denied. Sadly, the plaintiff did not live to witness the final resolution of the dispute, having passed away while the matter was pending before the Court of Appeal. Nevertheless, his prolonged struggle was not in vain, as justice ultimately prevailed for the benefit of his children and successors in title, for whom the victory stands as a lasting vindication of his faith in the law.
Its in this case i believe that some litigants can go extra miles even do juju against opposing lawyer but I thank God it ended in praises.
AGUCHINAGBARAOGU I
