"The issue raised for the determination of this Court is; whether having regards to its jurisdiction as conferred by Section 277 of the 1999 Constitution, (as Amended) the Sharia Court of Appeal, Kebbi State has the appellate jurisdiction to hear and to determine the appeal as Constituted which has the subject matter of a dispute to farm land.
The question to perhaps, address at this point is whether the Sharia Court of Appeal, Kebbi State is clothed with the requisite jurisdiction to have entertained the Appeal and which arose from the judgment of the Upper Sharia Court, Ribah Kebbi State in a matter grounded in a claim of ownership to land. The important thing to note here is that the jurisdiction of the Sharia Court of Appeal is provided for by virtue of Sections 277(1) and (2) of the Constitution of Nigeria, 1999 as Amended only confers jurisdiction on the Sharia Court of Appeal to deal with questions arising from Islamic Personal Law. A careful construction of the claims reproduced in the records of Appeal shows that the substance of the claim presented before the Court below was no doubt one which is grounded in a claim for title to land and no more. Sections 277(1) and (2) of the Constitution of Nigeria, 1999 as Amended and which is in pari materia with Section 242(2) of the 1979 Constitution of Nigeria have received several judicial pronouncements by this and as well as the apex Court.
In the case of MAGAJI vs. MATARI (2000) 2 NSCQR 636, the Supreme Court per A. B. WALI, JSC held at page 645 as follows; "Looking at the facts in this case, the dispute cannot fit in any of the matters listed in Section 242(2) of the Constitution. It is neither a case for a claim of inheritance nor that of a gift, a wakf or a will. It is simply a case involving ownership of a piece of land in dispute between the contending parties. It is therefore misconception by learned Counsel for the Respondent to say that the dispute involves question of inheritance within the contemplation and provisions of Section 242(2) (c) and (e) which was being withheld from the Respondent and his privies."
In the contribution and concurring Judgment of MOHAMMED, JSC at pages 648 - 649 he said: "Land disputes can only be pertinent for determination of Sharia Court of Appeal if it involves any question of Islamic Personal Law regarding a wakf, gift, will or succession where the endower, donor, testator or deceased person is a Muslim. The dispute between the Appellant and the Respondent does not involve any of the matters I mentioned above. The Sharia Court of Appeal has therefore no jurisdiction to adjudicate on the dispute." In his contribution to the Judgment, this is what KARIBI - WHYTE, JSC had to say at page 653:
"The intention of the Constitutional provision, which is very clear, is to confine and limit the exercise of the jurisdiction of the Sharia Court of Appeal to subject matters of Islamic Personal Law. The intention cannot be subverted by personal law. The intention of the provision is to give it an unintended meaning." There may be the need to state here, that the dispute between the Appellant and the Respondent, has arisen from contending claims between the duo on the question of ownership to a parcel of land, and there is no way this can be said to relate, involve or have the semblance of any questions of Islamic Personal Law regarding a wakf, gift, will or succession, and if at all for any reasons, there is no way the claim for title to land can in any way be pitch-forked into any of the circumstances permitted under the provisions of Section 277(2) (a) - (e) of the Constitution of Nigeria, 1999 (as Amended).
In this connection, see the case of SARKIN KUDU MOHAMMED MAIDAWA vs. SARKIN DAWAKI HUSAINI (2000) 1 NWLR (PT. 665) 698; GARBA vs. DOGON YARO (1991) 1 NWLR (PT. 165) 102; MAIDA vs. MODU (2000) 4 NWLR (PT 651) 99; USMAN vs. KAREEM (1995) NWLR (PT. 379) 537. Against the backdrop of the numerous decisions of this Court and the Supreme Court on the question of the jurisdiction of the Sharia Court of Appeal as encapsulated in Section 277 of the Constitution of Nigeria, 1999 (as Amended) I hereby make bold to say that the Sharia Court of Appeal Kebbi State had no jurisdiction in the first place to have entertained; to have heard and to have determined this case. Consequently, this Appeal succeeds and it is accordingly allowed and the judgment of the lower Court, that is the Sharia Court of Appeal, Kebbi State, delivered on the 16- 1-2017 in Appeal No: SCA/KBS/RB/11/2016 is hereby struck out."
Per OHO, J.C.A. IN UZANGILA v. JAGABA CITATION: (2018) LPELR-43981(CA)
