Justice Abdulfattah Lawal of the Lagos State High Court, Ikeja has declared the Federal Government’s acquisition of over 292 hectares of ancestral land belonging to the Onigbanko community within Irede, along the Lagos-Badagry Expressway, null and void, ruling that the process was carried out in breach of the law.
The judge determined that the acquisition did not meet the legal standards of due process, payment of compensation, and acquisition for a genuine public purpose. He also dismissed all preliminary objections raised by Nasco Investment & Property Company Limited.
The case, marked ID/5709/2025, was brought by Oba Sheriff Adesina Bello, the Onigbanko of Igbanko and other representatives of the Igbanko community against Nasco Investment & Property Company Limited and the Attorney-General of the Federation.
In a detailed judgment, Justice Lawal agreed with Moyosore Onigbanjo SAN, counsel for the Claimants, that the defendants failed to prove that statutory notices of acquisition were ever served on the community, describing this omission as fatal to the validity of the acquisition.
According to the court, there was no evidence indicating when or whether notices were served on the landowners. Furthermore, neither the notice of acquisition nor the relevant government gazette was presented as evidence.
The court held that, without proof of the service of statutory notices, the acquisition could not lawfully extinguish the community’s rights to the land.
Justice Lawal also dismissed the defendants’ argument that the claim was statute-barred, noting that the limitation period could not commence without evidence of when the acquisition notice was served on the claimants.
He further rejected objections questioning the claimants’ legal standing and alleging abuse of court process, ruling that the defendants had failed to prove that the acquisition was validly completed in a manner that extinguished the community’s rights.
Regarding compensation, the judge found that the defendants did not demonstrate that the community was compensated as required by law.
He clarified that excising a portion of land does not constitute compensation and rejected the defendants’ claim that the community had waived its entitlement, describing this alleged waiver as unsupported by evidence.
The court also discovered that the land, originally intended for use by the Nigerian Navy, was ultimately transferred to Nasco Town Ltd, which then transferred it to Nasco Estate and Property Development Company for private commercial purposes rather than the public purpose for which it was acquired.
Justice Lawal highlighted that documents before the court, including lease and sublease agreements, indicated that the land was used to compensate Nasco rather than to serve the stated public purpose.
He ruled that such diversion rendered the acquisition unlawful, emphasising that a private venture does not automatically become a public purpose merely because it may offer incidental benefits to the public.
As a result, the court declared the acquisition unconstitutional, illegal, null and void, setting it aside and restraining the defendants from further occupation or development of the land.
The court also awarded damages in the sum of #300,000,000. 00 (Three Hundred Million Naira) for trespass and illegal occupation, and ordered the defendants to pay N12 million as costs to the claimants.
This judgment is expected to set a crucial precedent regarding compulsory land acquisition, reinforcing that governments must strictly adhere to statutory procedures, pay appropriate compensation, and ensure that acquired land is used solely for genuine public purposes.
