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By Lukman Olabiyi
The management of Associated Property Development Company Limited (APDCL) has urged parties involved in the ongoing legal battle over a property situated at 2A, Osborne Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, to stop misinforming the general public with propaganda, fake news and false claims.
The property, which is subject of litigation before the Federal High Court, Lagos, has APDCL as plaintiff, while the Federal Ministry of Communication and Technology, Otunba Olusola Adekanola, Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL), and Federal Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development are respondents. The Implementation Committee on Alienation of Federal Government Property and the Attorney-General of the Federation were also listed as respondents in the suit.
In a ruling, Justice Daniel Osiagor had recently ordered all the respondents with their agents and the police to vacate the premises of the property within seven days.
The order was sequel to an application filed by APDCL over the alleged invasion of the property by the police.
The plaintiff, in reaction to a news report by a national daily on July 31, 2023, with the headline, “Osborne Road Property: FG files motion for stay of execution,” stated that what was in the report was nothing but propaganda.
APDCL, in a statement by a concerned citizen who has been following the issue, Mr. Jonathan Osunbor, stated that the order of Justice Osiagor on May 23, 2023, in suit FHC/L/CS/4767/2008, which ordered that the status quo be maintained by the parties, pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice for mandatory injunction filed by Associated Property Development Company Limited, has not been appealed.
The statement read in part: “It is important to clarify that the motion on notice for stay of execution of the court’s order in the mentioned suit, dated July 20, 2023, and the appeal made reference to in the report were filed on behalf of Olusola Adekanola and NITEL/Mtel, in liquidation, and not on behalf of the Federal Government or any of its agencies as alleged.
“The appeal filed by Adekanola and NITEL/Mtel (in liquidation) is against the above order of court made on July 20, 2023, directing that evidence of compliance with the order made on May 23, 2023, be filed in court. So, as it stands, no appeal has been filed against the order made against NITEL/Mtel and Otunba Adekanola to maintain status quo, as well as the order made on July 20, 2023, against the Inspector-General of Police and subordinates to vacate the premises of number 2a, Osborne Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, and revert possession to APDCL.
“In contrast to the assertion made in the article, the property known as 2a, Osborne Road ikoyi, does not sit on 9,191.67 square metres but on 4,000 square metres. The developer entered into a development lease agreement in 1983 with the Ministry of Communications on its land, measuring 9,191.67 square metres.
“After the completion of the first phase of the project, which is today Foreshore Towers, 70 percent of the land was taken away by third parties who got allocation from the Federal Ministry of Works, another federal government agency. This alienation vitiated the agreement APDCL entered with the Ministry of Communication in 1983. As a result of this breach of the 1983 agreement, there was need for the novation of the lease agreement to protect the heavy investment APDCL had made in the first phase of the project. This novation was midwifed and supervised by the Ministry of Communication, which is the lessor, and the Ministry of Works and Housing. APDCL did not have any input and was not involved in the negotiations. At the end of the negotiations, they came with a certificate of occupancy, which today is the only certificate of occupancy with special clauses, whereas the third parties that alienated 70 percent of the land got the standard certificate of occupancy for 99 years.
“It is imperative to state that APDCL has met all obligations as spelt out in the certificate of occupancy, both to the Ministry of Communication and the Ministry of Works and Housing, who are both parties in the pending suit.
“The Oluwole Rotimi panel made reference to in the publication did not have the mandate to give land to any agency. Even in the panel’s wisdom, the panel still recommended that there is a need to take a second look at the ownership claim of NITEL over the property.”
He claimed that the Ministry of Communication took a closer look and concluded the land belonged to the radio monitoring station, as evidenced by the survey plan, with the number LS 148/L/8008/ 1-2. The said radio monitoring station is still part and parcel of the Federal Ministry of Communications; at no time was the land ceded to any other government agency, including NITEL.
Osunbor stated further: “In 2008, APDCL was forced to institute a suit, with No. FHC/L/CS/4767/2008, in the Federal High Court, Lagos Division, when Olusola Adekanola published the property for sale.
Curiously, while the aforementioned suit was ongoing, an interim forfeiture order was granted against the same property but was vacated by the presiding judge, Honourable Justice Inyang Ekwo, in suit FHC/AB/CS/1372/2021, on grounds that the property ought not to have been attached, being a property that was the subject matter of a pending litigation in suit FHC/L/CS/4767/2008.
“Furthermore, sometime in 2022, a bench ruling was made dismissing the application filed by the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) to join as a party, in suit FHC/L/CS/4767/2008. Not stopping there, they tried to use the Ministry of Works to publish misleading documents, knowing full well that the matter was sub judice.
“To the surprise of everyone, even while there was a subsisting court order mandating the status quo be maintained, Otunba Olusola Adekanola, through BPE, as well as the Nigerian Police Force, took it a step too far when they forcefully took over possession of the subject matter without any regard or consideration for the pending suit,
“We live in a civilised society where respect for the rule of law is sacrosanct. Why then are law-abiding citizens being held hostage by a few individuals because of their selfish desires, using their access and contacts with the police high command?
“APDCL has since tendered all of its evidence in the above suit pending at the Federal High Court, and it is expected that the other parties should rely on the same process without resorting to bullying and intimidation to malign and discredit the reputation of the developer.”
He called on the parties in the matter to do the right thing, starting with obedience of court orders, stating that, at the time of this report, “The police have refused to vacate the premises despite the court order, which clearly directs them to do so.”
