Abstract :
Do the terms of the Nigerian Land Use Act permit the application of equitable principles
to transactions under it? More particularly, could equity be used to enforce
null and void transactions under the Act? Although the Supreme Court answered
these questions in the negative in Ajilo, other decisions of the Supreme Court, as
well as some sections of the Act itself, suggest that the Act is not incompatible
with equitable principles. Nor is it contrary to public policy to enforce null and
void transactions under the Act through the intervention of equity. Two relevant
equitable concepts are resulting and constructive trusts. While constructive trusts
have found some fertile soil in Nigerian equity jurisprudence (despite the discordant
tune in Ajilo), Nigerian courts seem to struggle with the principles of resulting trust.
This article suggests that resulting and constructive trusts are proper instruments for
the interpretation and application of the Act and that Ajilo should be overruled.
