By Maduka Nweke
Stakeholders in the real estate industry have risen to support the court verdict asking AMCON to hands off dealings in respect to Block B, Plot 2 in Victory Park Estate in Lekki Housing scheme in Lagos.
One of those who spoke to PropertyMart, Mr. Shuaibu Oderinde, an independent developer in Lekki, said that such court order was good because government has been using similar strategies in the past to take away landed assets of innocent citizens.
“We don’t know which one we are suffering, is it the ‘Omoniles’ or government agents in different forms? Government should clarify issues concerning land before delving into it, “he asserted.
Another respondent, Alhaja Jumoke Bisala, a estate agent in Port Harcourt, said that she has lost a lot of plots in that way. She said that the laws relating to government and landed property is, either not properly captured to reflect what operators suffer or that government is using its whims and caprices to manipulate the public. “Government should be careful not to be agents of rich land speculators bent on collecting people’s land using government agencies,”she noted.
The Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) had denied receiving any court order in respect of a Block in Victory Park Estate, in Lekki, Lagos State. AMCON dismissed the order at a press briefing organised by the estate owners.
It said that the takeover of the property known as Block B Plot 2, Victory Park Estate, Igbokushu Village, Lekki, Lagos, was carried out on the basis of the Judgment delivered by the Federal High Court on October 3, 2017, in Suit no: FHC/L/CS/744/2017 – Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria & 5 Ors which was affirmed by the Court of Appeal in Appeal no: CA/L/698/2018 – Rev Olajide Awosedo v Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria & 5 Orson 3rd June 2019.
“The Judgment of October 3, 2017 granted the Corporation powers to take over all the movable and immovable properties of Knight Rook Limited and other Judgment Debtors and apply the proceeds of their disposal in the settlement of the Judgment Debt.
“The Corporation and Receiver Manager are law-abiding and saddled with the mandate to recover an outstanding debt of Knight Rook Limited. The mandate of the corporation must be carried out in line with the powers vested in the Corporation by the provisions of the AMCON Act, as amended. Debtors should pay their debt for the sake of the Nigerian Economy,” it said.
AMCON, therefore, advised the public to discountenance the publication, the outcome of the press conferences, as well as the video, and refrain from taking actions that could breach the peace as all actions carried out by the Corporation and its Receiver/Manager at Victory Park Estate, Igbokushu Village, Lekki, Lagos is in line with their mandate under the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria Act 2010 (as amended) and pursuant to a subsisting Court Judgment.
A statement from AMCON said the press briefing was scheduled to hold at Westwood Hotel Ikoyi to discuss how AMCON and its receiver-manager, Lanre Olaoluwa, had disobeyed court orders and violated the doctrine of Lis PENDIS.