Once a party pleads and traces the root of his title to a particular person or family, he must establish how that person or family derived his or its title to such land. Accordingly, to succeed in his claim for declaration of title to land in dispute, the plaintiff must not only plead and establish his title thereto but also the title of the person from whom he claims, for, as the Latin maxim states, nemo dat quod non habet which means no one can give that which he does not have. He cannot ignore the proof of his grantor’s root of title and concentrate only on his own title to such, particularly where the defendant did not concede the ownership of the land by the plaintiff’s grantor but expressly denied the same. In the instant case, the appellant relied on certificate of occupancy No. 15925 dated 9/6/2005, exhibit 4 and the purchase of the land from one Abubakar Haruna vide a deed of assignment, exhibit 1. The mere tendering exhibit 4 did not automatically prove that the land in dispute belonged to the appellant, without him going further to establish the title of the alleged customary owner of the land in dispute. This is because, it was the deed of assignment executed by Abubakar Haruna that led to the issuance of exhibit 4 and he allegedly acquired his title to the land
Adamu v. Nigerian Airforce (2022) 5 NWLR (Pt. 1822) 159 SC