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Court orders appearance of Lagos church trustees over land dispute

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12 months ago

Justice Raliat Adebiyi of a Lagos State High Court sitting in Ikeja has ordered the Incorporated Trustees of the Victorious Army Ministries International to appear before it to answer charges in a land dispute case involving the Asade Royal Family of Ogba, Lagos.

Justice Adebiyi made this order following a motion ex parte brought pursuant to Order 9, Rule 5 of the High Court Civil Procedure Rules 2019 by Prince Oyewole Asade and Prince Olabisi Asade.

The Asade Royal family had filed an application seeking leave of court to serve a writ of summons and all other originating processes on the church by substituted means by posting at their church premises, having failed to accept service.

In the writ of summons, the Asade Royal family is seeking a declaration that they are the owners of all the pieces or parcels of land located and situated at Plot 22, Acme Road, Agidingbi, Ikeja, Lagos State.

The Asade family asked for a declaration that they are entitled to the statutory right of occupancy in respect of all that piece or parcel of land located and situated at Plot 22, Acme Road, Agidingbi, Ikeja, Lagos State.

They are also seeking an order of perpetual injunction to restrain the church, their servants, agents, privies, assigns, representatives, and whoever derives title from them from trespassing or further trespassing on the disputed land.

And an order for possession of all that piece or parcel of land known, located, and situated at Plot 22, Acme Road, Agidingbi, Ikeja, Lagos State.

The Asade Royal family’s statement of claims relied on the decision of the Supreme Court in suit No. SC 129/1984, wherein Justice Andrews Obaseki affirmed that Agidingbi village and all the farmlands surrounding it lie within Asade’s Ogba land.

The Asade Royal family, in their Statement of Claim, averred that there is no record of any sale, assignment, transfer, or lease of the said land from their record to the church, and they didn’t know how the church, the Incorporated Trustees of Victorious Army Ministries International, got into their land.

The lawyer for the family, Otunba Remi Adeoye, also noted that despite the service of the originating processes, the church didn’t file their defence to the claim within the time allowed by the rules of the court.

According to the lawyer, the church had deliberately failed and refused to file any process in court with the intention of delaying the case.

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