It is good that the Lagos State Government has come out to say that it will investigate the circumstances of the demolition of property that Peter Obi claims to have belonged to his brother’s company for over 15 years. It turned out that the land is in Ikeja GRA in Lagos, not FESTAC, like I originally thought.
The facts reveal apparent compromise of the judicial process. Firstly, the judgment of the court, on the suit against Unknown Persons reads that the suit was filed on 6th June 2023. The judgment itself was delivered on 20th May 2024. However, the purported certificate of occupancy (C of O) that the claimant is said to possess and on the basis of which she is believed to have instituted and prosecuted the action was issued on 17th February 2025. This was over two years after the case was filed and almost a year after the judgment was delivered. That means that someone issued the purported C of O to advance or cover up what is most probably a fraudulent judicial process.
How did the purported C of O come about? Ikeja GRA or Government Reservation Area was created in the 1960s under the former Western Regional Government. It is therefore titled land. Allottees of plots of land there have registered conveyances, leases or sub leases. I believe that a few have Land Certificates. What is important is that there is no plot of land there that is not registered land or that does not have its roots in registered land. When land is registered, subsequent transactions on it are documented and perfected through the process of obtaining Governor’s consent to the transaction.
C of O is evidence of allocation of land. It is granted only in respect of land that had no previous documented or registered title. There is no fresh allocation of land within the GRA that was created and titled way back in the 1960s. The Land Use Act under which Cs of O are granted came into being in 1978. Subsequent transfer of Land in the GRA can only be documented and perfected through the process of Governor’s consent on the transaction. The only way that someone can have a C of O with respect to land in the GRA in 2025 is if the land originally was in the beneficial use of the same Government that has the power to make a foundational grant of a certificate of occupancy. Some of these properties sitting on acres and built up for use by Government officials were later broken up into bits and sold to members of the public as fresh allocations. Cs of O were issued to such grantees.
It is difficult therefore to see how a C of O was granted in respect of private land in the GRA in February 2025, if the purported C of O is not a fake document or if mischief was not intended. Definitely, the so called C of O could not have been the document with which the named Claimant, Deborah Olorunlogbon, prosecuted her case before Hon Justice A.M. Lawal. Let her come out with those documents.
Justice Lawal is very experienced in land matters. He is not someone that can claim to have been deceived by any contrivance in the matter. The judicial procedure of suit against persons unknown is meant to recover land from squatters or persons occupying land without any ostensible or defensible title. It is not a means of prosecuting claims of title over land. No declaration of title to land can be granted in such a suit. Judgment in such a suit, where not fought on the merits, that is, where the defendant does not appear, is usually set aside almost as a matter of course where the defendant or any affected party subsequently files an application to set it aside and shows a triable claim of title or right to possession of the property. Such judgment therefore cannot be basis for demolition of any property.
I am compelled to believe that the investigation promised by the Lagos State Government, if carried out, will uncover many compromises of the judicial process in this saga
By Chuks Nwachuku, legal practitioner and leadership and good governance advocate, [email protected]
