Adelanwa Bamgboye
12 October 2008
Lagos — Justice Shitta Bey of the Lagos High Court, Igbosere has ordered Credo Nigeria Limited, a Lagos-based limited liability company with office in Surulere Lagos, Mr Yinka Balogun, head of the Special Fraud Unit (SFU) of the Nigerian Police and the Attorney-Ggeneral of Lagos State, to keep off from the land used as Obalende recreation ground pending the hearing and determination of a suit filed by Prince Soji Ladejobi, on behalf of the Obalende Landlords Association.
The court, while handing down the order after an affidavit of urgency filed by the applicant held that in view of the special circumstance of the case and in order to avoid possible break-down of law and order, the status quo should be maintained pending the hearing and determination of the court.
The court ordered the applicant to serve the motion of notice on the defendants with immediate effect.
In the application filed before the court, the applicant averred that the Obalende community had occupied the portion of land now known as Obalende recreation ground since pre-independence time and had through its community leaders, always exercised maximum acts of ownership and control over the said portion of land without any hindrance or molestation from anybody until July 2006, when Credo Nigeria Limited, the first defendant through Prince Adelagun Adesanya, its managing director (who is also the second defendant), instituted a suit against the applicant claiming ownership of the said portion of land by virtue of a purported Deed of lease dated June 4, 1984, between the federal military government and the first defendant.
However, the first defendant voluntarily discontinued the suit which was pending before Justice Ojikutu Oshode following an allegation of fraud raised by the applicant against the genuineness of the purported Deed of lease.
The applicant averred that sometime in 1990, the Lagos Island local government ceded the recreation ground to the then Universal Trust Bank Plc (UTB) which converted two-third of the ground for its private use as a car park and the remainder one-third designed for relaxation and recreation purpose and formally handed over to the Obalende Community Development Association.
The applicant argued that the recreation ground was never part of the land claimed by the first defendant at the Lagos High Court for declaration of title, as it was not covered by the first defendant's survey plan.
According to the applicant, the first defendant had moved two of its survey beacons beyond the distance covered in its survey plan immediately prior to instituting the suit in order to create the impression that the recreation ground was part of the land purportedly leased to it by the then federal military government.
The applicant averred that the first defendant was never granted a Certificate of Occupancy in respect of the recreation ground but only registered the purported lease granted to it by the then federal military government at the land registry.
Moreover, the applicant averred that following enquiries and investigations at the ministry of Works, it discovered that there was no record of the purported lease between the first defendant and the federal military government which called to question the genuineness of the purported Deed of lease.
The claimant alleged that the second defendant had stationed members of the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) on the said portion of land to provide security cover for his attempt to appropriate and subsequently alienate the portion of the recreation ground as his own before the members of OPC were eventually chased away by youths of the Obalende community, and the first defendant formally solicited the support of SFU of the Nigerian Police to complement the OPC in forcefully taking over the portion of land, and the SFU detained members of the community upon a false and malicious petition written to the police accusing the applicant of forging fake documents to claim possession of the said land.
The applicant demanded for N3 million damages against second and third defendants for illegal detention of the applicant upon false and malicious petition, and a perpetual injunction restraining the defendants from appropriating, selling, leasing or alienating the portion of land inconsistent with the rights of the Obalende community as represented by the applicant.
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