Two registered titles on the same property (Part One)

Maybe you have bought a property and paid for it. In fact, not only was a Deed of Assignment drawn up in your favour, but to further solidify your claim to the property, you have also registered it at the Lands Registry. Then you prepare to take possession of your property only to discover that some other person has possession of it. Upon further discovery, you find out that the person has also registered their title documents on the same property. What happens then? Does it matter that the property was sold to you first? Let us find out from the Supreme Court matter of Ashiru v. Olukoya [2006] 11 NWLR (Pt 990) 1.
Mr. Ashiru paid for a piece of land at Sumbare Layout, Ijebu Road, Ibadan and registered the Deed of Assignment. When he went to the property and sought to commence building, he found Mrs. Olukoya’s agent and lessee in possession of the land. A fight ensued and everyone involved ended up at the police station.
Following the incident, Mrs. Olukoya took Mr. Ashiru to the High Court asking the court to declare that she was the owner of the land. She also asked for general and special damages and an injunction restraining Mr. Ashiru and his agents from entering the land. In response, Mr. Ashiru also claimed ownership of the land in dispute. Thus, each party had to prove that they had a better title than the other.
To prove her title to the land, Mrs. Olukoya showed the court the line of registered title documents that transferred the ownership of the land from different vendors to her late father. Some of the vendors were members of the original owners of the land, the Awojobi Kure family. She also proved that she and her family had carried out several acts of ownership over the land for a period of 27 years, without any disturbance from the Awojobi Kure family or any other person.
On the other hand, Mr. Ashiru traced his ownership of the property directly to the Awojobi Kure family. Additionally, he was also able to produce registered title documents.
After considering the evidence given by both parties, the trial court found that Mrs. Olukoya had exercised sufficient acts of ownership on the land to prove title, while there was no evidence that Mr. Ashiru had performed any acts of ownership on the land. The court also found that Mrs. Olukoya registered her title documents before Mr. Ashiru and decided that she had a priority of interest.
The Judge said that: “The defendant (i.e. Mr. Ashiru) had thus been swindled. Had he made proper inquiries in the Registry of Lands, he would have discovered the earlier registration by previous purchasers of the land in dispute.”
Thus, the court gave judgement in favour of Mrs. Olukoya and dismissed Mr. Ashiru’s claim. Dissatisfied, Mr. Ashiru went to the Court of Appeal where his appeal was dismissed. Still aggrieved, he appealed to the Supreme Court. Come here next week to know the decision of the Supreme Court.