Court orders repossession of land accommodating 500 houses in Ogun State
About 500 landlords and tenants in Atoyo Adubiagbe-Oga community, in the Sagamu Local Government Area of Ogun State, face uncertainty after a court ordered another family to repossess the land their buildings are standing on.
Delivering judgement in a protracted land dispute, the Ogun State High Court sitting in Sagamu on Monday declared the family of Adubiagbe as the lawful owner of the community.
Consequently the family was ordered to repossess the land.
Two families Adefowodu-Oyelaru and Adubiagbe had contested the land covering about 67 hectares for 17 years.
The case was first handled by Justice Mosunmola Dipeolu, then of the state High Court. She dismissed an application filed by the Adefowodu-Oyelaru family claiming ownership of the land.
The case was then taken higher to the Court of Appeal in Ibadan, Oyo State, which redirected the case to the Ogun State High Court for retrial.
Upon retrial, Justice Nasiru Agbelu found that the Adefowodu-Oyelaru family had not been able to prove ownership of the land based on the traditional evidence tendered, which he said had “unexplainable gaps.”
He declared that the defendants, on the other hand, provided “credible, reliable and detailed traditional evidence” to back its claim of being the owner of the land.
Justice Agbelu therefore declared the Adubiagbe family the true owner of the disputed land, adding that all transactions, sales and acts done by the Adefowodu-Oyelaru family on the land were invalid, null and void.
He awarded the sum of N500,000 to be paid by the Adefowodu-Oyelaru family for trespassing on the land.
“The claimants’ failure to claim where their progenitor came further weakens their traditional history.
The situation has sent fears into the hearts of residents of the community who purchased the land from the losing party as their fate hangs in the balance.
