LIMITATION LAW — Cause of Action — Accrual of Cause of Action — Where Chieftaincy Declaration Requires Registration Before Taking Effect
Principle Statement
Where a chieftaincy declaration is required by law to be registered before it can take effect, the cause of action for challenging that declaration does not accrue until the date of registration or attempted registration, not from the earlier date when recommendations were accepted or an intention to amend was formed.
Ratio Decidendi (Source)
Per Musdapher, JSC, in Military Administrator (Ekiti State) & Ors v. Aladeyelu & Ors (2007) NLC-123-8-2006(SC) at p. 10; Paras A–C.
"From the language of subsection (2) a chieftaincy Declaration cannot affect the rights of persons subject to it unless and until it has been registered. As far as the respondents as the plaintiffs were concerned, the first and real time when the recommendations and their acceptance by the Government would adversely affect them was in 1995, when the Government attempted to register the new declaration, all along from 1981, when the recommendations were accepted, the Government merely formed the intention of amending the particular Declaration of 1958."
Explanation / Scope
A cause of action accrues only when the plaintiff’s rights are actually infringed or threatened, not when a defendant forms an intention to infringe. Where a legal instrument requires registration to become operative, no adverse effect on the plaintiff’s rights can occur until registration is attempted or completed. This principle prevents limitation periods from running prematurely based on mere governmental intentions or recommendations.
