Court voids FG’s acquisition of 292 hectares of Onigbanko Ancestral Land

The Lagos State High Court in Ikeja has nullified the Federal Government’s acquisition of more than 292 hectares of ancestral land belonging to the Onigbanko community in Irede, along the Lagos-Badagry Expressway, ruling that the exercise violated due process and failed to meet constitutional requirements.

In a judgment delivered on June 3, 2026, Justice Abdulfattah Lawal held that the acquisition was unlawful because the government failed to comply with statutory procedures, did not pay compensation and could not establish that the land was acquired for a genuine public purpose.

The suit, marked ID/5709/2025, was instituted 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.

Justice Lawal agreed with Moyosore Onigbanjo (SAN), counsel to the claimants, that the defendants failed to prove that statutory notices of acquisition were served on the community, describing the omission as fatal to the validity of the acquisition.

The court noted that neither evidence of service of the notices nor the relevant government gazette was produced during the trial, ruling that without proof of service, the acquisition could not lawfully extinguish the community’s ownership rights.

The judge also dismissed the defendants’ objections that the suit was statute-barred, challenged the claimants’ legal standing or constituted an abuse of court process, holding that none of the objections was supported by evidence.

On compensation, Justice Lawal ruled that the defendants failed to establish that the community was compensated as required by law, adding that excising a portion of the land could not amount to compensation. He also rejected claims that the community had waived its entitlement.

The court further found that although the land was originally acquired for the Nigerian Navy, it was subsequently transferred to Nasco Town Ltd, which later assigned it to Nasco Estate and Property Development Company for private commercial purposes.

According to the court, documents, including lease and sublease agreements, showed that the land was ultimately used to compensate Nasco rather than for the public purpose stated in the acquisition.

Justice Lawal consequently declared the acquisition unconstitutional, illegal, null and void, restrained the defendants from further occupying or developing the land, awarded the claimants N300 million in damages for trespass and illegal occupation, and granted N12 million as litigation costs.