THE Court of Appeal sitting in Benin, Edo State, has set aside the judgment of an Edo State High Court, Benin, which ruled that the adjoining land to an Igiogbe remained part and parcel of the property at No. 32, Agbado Street, Benin City.

Igiogbe, according to Benin native law and custom, is the house where a deceased father lived, died and was buried . The Igiogbe is passed on to the eldest son by inheritance after he had performed the first and second burial rites and Ukpomwen.

Appellants in the case, Edomwonyi Aiguokunrueghian, Uhunmwenkpema Aiguokunrueghian, Monday Aiguokunrueghian for themselves and on behalf of the children of Aiguokunrueghian, Taiwo Alegbesogie and Igbineweka Ogedegbe, dissatisfied with the judgment of Justice J. Omorodion of the lower court over the land adjoining the Igiogbe, appealed same.

The appellate court, in a landmark judgment by Justice Hamma Barka and unanimously adopted by Justice Ibrahim Saulawa and Justice Ugochukwu Ogakwu, said: “I am of the view therefore, that clause 7 of the will, having devised the Igiogbe and the adjoining land to the appellants’ father, his bequest in respect of the adjoining land is not caught up by the Phrase subject to;

“In other words, the adjoining land which is inbuilt remains the property of the father the appellants and by necessary inference that of the 1st and 3rd appellants. The holding of the lower court is in error and is hereby set aside.”

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