Prove of a Valid purchase of Land

Amongst every other things that must be established for successful prove of a valid purchase of the disputed land under Native Law and Custom law. It is trite law that for a sale of land under native or customary law to be valid, the following requirements must be met.

These requirements are:

(1) There must be payment of money or agreed consideration.

(2) The transaction must be witnessed by witnesses.

(3) The actual handing over of the land must be done in the Presence of the same witnesses.

the importance of the above mentioned requirements had been emphasised in the rations below: Adedeli v Oloso [2007] SCNJ 411; Folarin v. Durojaye (1988) 1 NWLR (Pt 70) 351; Cole v Folami (1956) 1 FSC 66 at 69.

Per Oguntade JSC:

“The trial Court was clearly wrong in granting to 2nd defendant a reprieve for the consequences at law attending upon his failure to plead and testily as to the name of persons who witnesses the sale transaction and the handing over of the land. Even if such witnesses were dead and could not be called as witnesses, the obligation to plead their names and testify concerning them was not removed. It was the particularity with which their names and description were pleaded and given in evidence, that would assist the Court in determining whether the evidence was credible. It seems to me that in the circumstances, the inevitable conclusion to be arrived at is that the 2nd defendant failed to prove that the land was sold to his father under customary law.”