Between the 18th and early part of the 20th century in Duke Town, Calabar, there lived one man named Ishie who came from Iboland. He became attached to Archibong house as a domestic member. Because he was very industrious and enterprising he was liberated by his master or overlord. He established his own house-hold known as Ishie House with his children and the slaves he acquired. It is undisputed by the parties that Ishie who later became known as Chief Ishie Offiong Okoho was the founder of Ishie Town and owner of the land in dispute known as Isong Akani Ebiet Ishie which is shown in the survey plan as Exhibit 4. At the time of his death in 1901, Chief Ishie Offiong Okoho was survived by a son called Chief Eyo Ishie and a daughter. It is the case of the appellant that Chief Eyo Ishie the son of Chief Ishie Offiong Okoho who died in 1943 was his father and as he (the appellant) is the surviving direct blood descendant of late Chief Ishie Offiong Okoho, the founder and owner of the land in dispute, he is entitled to inherit the same. The appellant also claimed that the respondent being the blood descendants of slave members of late Chief Ishie Offiong Okoho, his grand-father, the respondents have no right to inherit the land in dispute. It is also the case of the appellant that before his death, late Chief Ishie Offiong Okoho, partitioned various parcels of his land and allocated them to respondents’ grandfathers excluding the land in dispute which was inherited by his father Chief Eyo Ishie, and that by Efik law and custom, as his father succeeded the late Chief Ishie Offiong Okoho and inherited the property; he also should inherit his own father’s property including the land in dispute. The appellant therefore brought this action for redress. On the other hand, it is the case of the respondents that the appellant is a pretender, not being a legitimate son of his purported father Chief Eyo Ishie. The respondents asserted that late Chief Ishie Offiong Okoho never partitioned any of his lands to any of his people and that all the interests in any allotments made to the members of the family were entailed and were for occupational purpose only with a reversion of title therein to the Ishie Community upon any failure of issues and therefore the allotments were not absolute. It is also their case that none of the children of late Chief Ishie Offiong Okoho succeeded to, or inherited any of his lands because the lands became communal properties of the entire family which were controlled and administered by the village head under the umbrella of the Ishie Town Council as the communal property of the Ishie Town. They pleaded suit No. C/41/53 in which the appellant was found as a fact to be a pretender with no legitimate claim to the estate of late Ishie, and suit NO. C/4/59, as res judicata. In consequence therefore the respondents denied the relief sought by the appellant in the court below.

The trial court in its reserved judgment dismissed the appellant’s claim.