41 Years After, Shangisha Landlords Demand Enforcement of Supreme Court Judgment

 

By Steven Dan-Asabe Aya 

The Shangisha/Magodo Landlords Association has renewed its demand for the Lagos State Government to comply with subsisting court judgments over a disputed parcel of land in the area, saying it has waited for more than four decades for justice to be fully implemented.

Addressing journalists at a press conference, the Association alleged that the Lagos State Government compulsorily acquired and took possession of their land between 1984 and 1985 after officials represented that it was required for the construction of an international-standard hospital. According to the Association, members were displaced and their homes demolished on the basis of that representation.

The landlords, however, said they later discovered that the land was not used for the proposed hospital project but was instead subdivided and allocated to private individuals. They said they subsequently approached the government with documentary evidence and were told that members would be compensated with alternative plots in what became known as Magodo Scheme II, but alleged that the resolution was never implemented.

Following the failure to resolve the matter, the Association said it commenced legal proceedings in 1988 in Suit No. ID/795/88, involving Chief Adebayo Adeyiga and six others against the Lagos State Government. It said that during the proceedings, the government continued development activities on the disputed land despite court orders, prompting the Association to seek an interlocutory injunction, which was granted on October 19, 1992.

The Association further recalled that on December 31, 1993, the Lagos State High Court delivered judgment in its favour and ordered the state government to allocate 549 plots from the disputed land to the Association as first choice of preference. It also alleged that, in May 1994, its then chairman, Chief Adebayo Adeyiga, was attacked by persons it described as members of a government task force accompanied by thugs, resulting in serious injuries and permanent disability.

The legal battle subsequently proceeded through the appellate courts. According to the landlords, the Court of Appeal, Lagos Division, affirmed the High Court judgment on September 25, 2001, before the Lagos State Government appealed to the Supreme Court. The Association said the Supreme Court unanimously affirmed the judgments of the lower courts on February 10, 2012.

Despite the Supreme Court judgment, the landlords said the dispute remained unresolved. They recalled that in 2022, members attempted to assert their rights by sealing gates within estates on the disputed land but suspended the action following an intervention by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu. They said subsequent proceedings eventually led to further Supreme Court sittings, which concluded on February 25, 2024.

The Association claimed that at the conclusion of those proceedings, the Supreme Court ordered the Lagos State Government to allocate the 549 plots to representatives of the Shangisha Landlords Association and warned against further attempts to reopen the matter. It expressed disappointment that, despite the order, the state government had allegedly taken no meaningful steps towards resolving the issue.

Describing the dispute as a test of the rule of law, the Association said its members had pursued the matter through lawful and constitutional means from the High Court to the Court of Appeal and ultimately the Supreme Court. It argued that while the judiciary had performed its constitutional role, what remained was executive compliance with the judgments. The group also appealed to civil society organisations and other defenders of the rule of law to support its demand for enforcement.

The Association also called on the National Assembly to investigate the long-running dispute and invite individuals it listed in its address to explain their alleged roles in the matter. It said many of the original litigants had died while waiting for the judgment to be implemented, leaving their children and grandchildren to continue the struggle. The landlords warned that the continued delay, in their view, risked turning a 41-year-old legal battle into a case of justice permanently denied.