Idi-Ako community land belongs to Odunlade’s family —Appeal Court

A Customary Court of Appeal sitting in Osogbo, Osun State, has dismissed the appeal brought to it by one Mr Quadri Adewale against Idi-Ako community, Ile-Ife, over a land dispute.

The applicant, after losing at the Customary Court in Ipetumodu, approached the Court of Appeal, claiming that the land located at Idi-Ako, Ile-Ife, belonged to him.

The customary court, which Mr. E. O. Akintayo, sat over, had on November 14, 2014, ruled in favour of Idi-Ako community, Ile-Ife, who dragged Adewale before it and declared that the said land belonged to the community.

President of the Customary Court of Appeal, Mrs Gloria Olagoke and two other judges of the court, unanimously dismissed the appeal filed by Adewale and upheld the earlier judgment of Ipetumodu Customary Court.

The applicant had claimed that the land located at Idi-Ako belonged to him, urging the court to upturn the decision of the customary court.

He claimed that the defendants had not established their case to be entitled for the judgment delivered in their favour by the customary court.

However, responding to the claims, the respondents, who were represented by Mr Paul Odunlade and Mrs Cecilia  Odunlade, had sought the order of the Appeal Court, compelling Adewale to remove his structure from the land.

The respondents, through their counsel, Mrs Francisca Lawal-Olatunji, also urged the court to declare that the land situated at Idi-Ako, Ile-Ife belongs to the family of late Pa David Odunlade.

They also sought perpetual injunction restraining Adewale, his agent, servants and assigns from trespassing on the said land.

While delivering the judgment, Mrs Olagoke dismissed the appeal filed by Adewale and upheld that the land belonged to Odunlade family.

She awarded N200,000 damages against the appellant for trespassing on the land.