Proof Of Title

The Supreme Court in the case of Jolasun V. Bamgboye (2010) 18 NWLR (pt 1225) 285 made bare the conditions that must  be met in the proof of title. In that case, Mr. Tijani Jolasun, applied to the Registrar of Titles in Lagos to register his interest in a parcel of land. He supported his application with relevant  documents. As provided  under  the Registration of Titles Law, the Registrar publicly advertised Mr. Jolasun’s application.
On seeing the advertisement, Mr. Napoleon Bamgboye filed a notice of objection on the ground that the land belonged to his late father, Mr. Joseph Bamgboye. Based on the objection raised, Mr Jolasun’s application was set aside for hearing by the registrar of titles. Mr. Jolasun claimed that the parcel of land originally belonged to the Oloto family and that the Oloto family sold a large expanse of the land to Mr. Joseph Bamgboye including the land that was the subject of the application. Late Bamgboye in turn mortgaged the land to Scottish Nigeria Mortgage and Trust Limited. When he failed to redeem the mortgaged property, the property was sold by public auction to one Mr. Ola Dawudu who in turn sold it to Suraktu Ogunsanya Kiyomi who also sold it to Jacob Ade Osinowo, who eventually sold it to him (Mr. Jolasun). He supported his oral evidence with several documents tracing the line of how he acquired the land. He produced a deed which recited the mortgage and sale of the land by public auction, and the deed of conveyance executed in his favour when he purchased the land.
Mr. Bamgboye on his part said in 1918, the Oloto family conveyed the land to his deceased father, Mr Joseph Bamgboye and executed a deed of conveyance in his favour, which was registered in 1920. He asserted that his father redeemed the land from the mortgage company and did not sell it before he died.
However, Mr. Bamgboye did not adduce any evidence to prove the release of the land from mortgage. He claimed that the deed of re-conveyance executed in his father’s favour was destroyed by fire.
After hearing, both parties, the Registrar of Titles found that Mr. Bamgboye’s father did not redeem the land and that his ownership of the land ended when the mortgage company sold the land by public auction, consequently his objection was dismissed and Mr. Jolasun’s ownership of the land was upheld. Mr. Bamgboye went to High Court, his case was dismissed, he appealed to the Court of Appeal, which allowed his appeal. But Mr. Jolasun appealed the decision of the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court upheld the high court’s decision, dismissing the decision of the Court of Appeal and noted that the Registrar of Titles does not have powers to declare title but merely registers it after investigation.

Nkechi Bright Ewere