Are you one of those who bought Nitel land at Ota-Ona from Omoniles? If the answer is yes, then you must be in for trouble. Reason the federal government has gone to the Federal High Court to get forfeiture in a suit filed before his lordship Honourable Justice I. E. Ekwo between the government and illegal occupants of properties.
Illegal occupants have been ordered to forfeit any claim to the property.
The federal government has secured interim forfeiture order on the land.
All those who built houses on the land, excluding those who purchased directly from the government are now in trouble.
Upon reading the motion of ex-parte filed and dated November 8, 2021, seeking relief to reclaim the land from illegal buyers. Upon reading the affidavit in support of the motion, disposed to by the Federal Government agent, one Aysha Garba (female, adult), a Nigerian citizen of ground floor, No. 10, Gimbiya Street, Garki, Abuja, filed in the registry of the court.
After record hearing, M. E. Sheriff esq., counsel to the applicant, the court granted the applicant request, giving interim order forfeiting to the Federal Government of Nigeria, all properties mentioned in paragraph 4 of the affidavit in support of this motion and which herein listed at appropriately 4, 330 square meters at Nitel Awolowo Road, Ikorodu.
The court granted the federal government the forfeiture of all those who built houses on Nitel property at Awolowo road, Ikorodu. Also, the Federal Government was granted interim forfeiture to all the land in Voice of Nigeria along Ibeshe Road (totaling 91 hectares of land) in Ikorodu.
It will be recalled that for years now, the Omoniles have been selling Federal Government land to unsuspecting buyers at Awolowo Way, Ikorodu. Even families involved have been fighting each other over the land.
The federal government during the regime of Olusegun Obasanjo that promoted the privatisation policy sold off the Nitel land property to private individuals who the government regards as legitimate buyers.
In the 1950s, the Federal Government of Nigeria (shortly before independence) acquired the mass of land for public use and built public utilities like Nigeria Telecommunication and the Federal Radio Corporation on the parcels of land.
As noted above, the policies were reverted in the late 1970s during the Obasanjo led reform, which privatised public properties to ease and facilitate rapid growth in the society.
The legitimate buyers of the land from Federal Government agent have since been threatened by Omo’niles who besieged the land and claimed it is their ancestral properties an that they have right to it. The Omo-oniles, argued that Federal Government had used the portion it needed and they unlawfully encroached on the land and fight with legitimate buyers who bought directly from the government.
The issue became sore after different family factions of the Omo-oniles attacked themselves over the land as they fight legitimate buyers from Federal Government.
The Omo’niles, believing they have a chance, sued the legitimate buyers to court over the land but unfortunately for them, they have lost their rights to the federal government after the court clarified the case.
They also forfeit everything related to the land to the legitimate buyers.