Court strikes out monarch's suit on disputed Lagos land

Court strikes out monarch's suit on disputed Lagos land

The Federal High Court in Lagos has declined jurisdiction over a fundamental rights enforcement suit arising from a long-running land dispute in Eti-Osa Local Government Area, ruling that the action was improperly brought and appeared designed to stall criminal proceedings.

In a judgment delivered on December 4, 2025, Justice Alexander Owoeye struck out the suit filed by a traditional ruler, Oba Kazeem Salami, alongside other claimants, against several private individuals, property firms and security agencies over alleged harassment and unlawful detention connected to a disputed expanse of land in Alasia Village.

The suit, marked FHC/L/CS/815/2020, named Dr Ken Uwaifo, Stanley Oripelaye, Cosmopolitan Property Limited, the Lagos State Task Force, the Inspector-General of Police and other law enforcement officials as respondents.

The applicants alleged that between 2018 and 2020, officers of the Lagos State Task Force on Land Grabbers and the police subjected them to intimidation, arrest and detention over the contested 107.877-hectare parcel of land at Odo-Nikin, Alasia Village. They sought declarations that their rights to personal liberty, dignity, fair hearing and freedom of movement had been violated, as well as an injunction restraining further interference and N350 million in damages.

However, Justice Owoeye upheld preliminary objections raised by the police and other respondents, holding that the applicants failed to meet the procedural requirements stipulated under the Fundamental Rights (Enforcement Procedure) Rules.

The court found that although the allegations were framed as rights violations, the circumstances suggested an attempt to use the procedure to avoid or frustrate criminal prosecution already pending before a Magistrate Court.

“The Fundamental Rights Enforcement Procedure cannot be deployed as a shield against criminal liability,” the judge ruled, adding that the applicants were at liberty to defend themselves in the criminal proceedings while pursuing their substantive civil claims over the land through appropriate channels.

While dismissing arguments that multiple applicants could not jointly file the action, the court nonetheless sustained the objection of the 8th to 10th respondents and struck out the substantive application, ordering all parties to bear their respective costs.

The ruling adds to a series of unfavourable court decisions for parties laying claim to the disputed Alasia Village land.

Earlier, on February 26, 2024, the Lagos State High Court dismissed an application by members of the Fatimot Sosan Ope family seeking to restrain alleged acquisition and development activities on the same land. That case, numbered LD/4383LMW/2017, was decided by Justice Olabisi Akinlade.

In that suit, the claimants — including Alhaji Babatunde Falana and Alhaji Abdulsalami O. Sulaimon — accused the Lagos State Government and several private companies of unlawfully allocating their ancestral land, allegedly rendering family members homeless and depriving them of their livelihoods.

The defendants, which included Cosmopolitan Properties Limited and Hitech Construction Company Ltd., countered with documents showing acquisition through public auctions and court orders, supported by Certificates of Occupancy, survey plans and deeds of assignment.

Justice Akinlade held that the claimants failed to establish a prima facie case warranting interlocutory relief, noting that the balance of convenience favoured the defendants and that damages would be an adequate remedy if the claimants eventually succeeded at trial.

Both rulings underscore the courts’ position that land ownership disputes must be resolved through substantive trials, and that rights enforcement procedures cannot be used to pre-empt or obstruct criminal or regulatory actions arising from such conflicts.