By Lukman Olabiyi
Justice Babatunde Kalaro of the Lagos State High Court, Ikeja, has ordered the Igbaro Oteshade Royal Family, Oko-Ado Community Cooperative and Thrift Society and Urban Housing Cooperative Society to maintain the status quo in a land dispute at Oko-Ado, Eti-Osa Local Government Area.
The claimants in the suit, namely: Chief Abdulriliwan Jabitta, Alhaji Sulaiman Oshodi, Chief Nojeem Agunbiade Oteshade and Mr. Tosin Oteshade, for themselves and on behalf of the royal family and the Oko-Ado Community Cooperative and Thrift Society, had dragged the defendant, Urban Housing Cooperative Society, before the court over the land dispute.
The claimants are praying the court for an order setting aside the consent judgment delivered in Suit. No LD/1402/06 on the 14 of May, 2019 by Honourable Justice Mufutau Olokooba. J. (retired) on grounds of mutual mistake of facts and errors of parties and mistake in survey plans used in the preparation of the composite settlement plan.
The family, also praying for an order restoring parties to the status quo ante Bellum to wit; the claimants to possession of their land being 15 hectares of land allocated to the family by Lagos State Government, vide letter of 31/7/98, particularly delineated on government survey plan number LS/D/LA/1412A, dated 18 December 18, 2003 and 60 hectares of land allocated to the family co-operative, society by Lagos State Government vide letter of 25/6/02, delineated on government survey plan number LS/D/LA/3037 dated June 13, 2012 granted by the Lagos State both parcels of land being at Oko-Addo village in En-Osa Local Government, Lagos.
The prayers of the family also include: an order to set aside the warrant of possession (writ of attachment) and the execution carried out on the 5th day of August, 2021, on their parcels of land pursuant to the said consent judgment vitiated by mutual mistake and errors. An order that parties are at liberty to commence a fresh action to assert, therein, right and claims of ownership of title to the parcels of land in dispute.
In the alternative, the family prayed the court for an order to have the terms of settlement rectified to reflect the original agreement of the parties by which the defendant shall execute Deed of Ratification of the confirmed assignees of the claimant on its parcel of land covered by the certificate of occupancy in the claimants land, conceded to the defendant and its sister company, Perico Property Company Limited.
The claimant, in their statement of claim, disclosed that the parties were earlier before the court on the subject matter, but opted for out-of-court settlement, in which parties’ resolution was agreed to be declared consent judgment. The family averred that due to mutual mistake of facts and errors of parties and mistake in survey plans used in the preparation of the composite settlement plan, which used to get the consent judgment, the claimants want the court to set aside the consent judgment.
In its defence, the Urban Housing Cooperative Society contended that the land in dispute does not fall within the land excised for any village or community by the Lagos State Government as stated in the list of towns/villages settlements approved for Excision and published in any of the Lagos State Government Official Gazette.
The defendant stated that the parcel of land was granted to it by the Executive Governor of Lagos State acting for and on behalf of Lagos State Government to carry out comprehensive housing, site and service development and road construction on all the parcels of land under the development of Government Estate by Private Developers Scheme as regulated by the Town and Country Planning (Governing Conditions for Development of Government Land by Private Developers) regulations.
The defendant contends that the 15 hectares of land purportedly granted to the claimants does not include the land granted to it, and that it never encroached on any of the claimant’s land. Meanwhile, Justice Kalaro has returned the case file to the Chief Judge, Justice Kazeem Alogba, for reassignment, after the party failed to reach a settlement, last Friday, at a pre-trial conference.