Ondo GRA landlords kick against enforcement of Court order despite appeal

Landlords and owners of land in the Government Reserved Area (GRA) of Alagbaka Extension in Akure, the Ondo State capital, have raised an alarm over an alleged move by the Olokunjuwon family to embark on the enforcement of the court order despite the pendency of an appeal at the Supreme Court.

The landlords who made this known at the weekend said the enforcement of the judgment of 2017 by the Olokunjuwon family was despite the order of an Akure High Court suspending the enforcement of the judgment pending the outcome of the decision of the Supreme Court.

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The Supreme Court has fixed March 27, 2027, for the hearing of the application filed by Olusola Aladesuyi, Tunde Oyinloye, and Olusegun Adu-Peters on behalf of other landlords and land owners at Alagbaka GRA extension seeking to join the suit on the dispute Olokunjuwon and Elekumo Family Land.

Also, the Akure High Court granted the landlords an order to halt the implementation of the warrant of possession issued in January 2023 pending the determination of the case at the Supreme Court.

Justice Adegboyega Adebusoye of the High Court said the granting of a stay of execution and a warrant of possession was to ensure that the hierarchy of the court system is not ridiculed or brought into public odium.

Despite the pendency of the suit at the apex court and order for a stay of execution, the landlords said Olokunjuwon and Umelu families have written to them to regularise the ownership of the land on which they built their houses.

Speaking, the Chairman of the Landlords Association, Mr Fred Ojo said the Olokunjuwon and Umelu families have been pasting notices of demand on the houses of the landlords.

According to him, he disclosed that the pasting notices did not exclude the private house of the state governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, demanding the landlords to come to the families for the regularisation of their land ownership.

Ojo described the pasting of posters by the families demanding regularisation of land purchase as contempt of court and a criminal attempt to short-change the judicial process.

The landlords described the action of the Olokunjuwon family as harassment and warned them against overreaching the likely outcome of the case at the apex court and committing contempt of court.

Ojo in the statement, argued that the matter involving Landlords as interested parties against the families is still pending in the Supreme Court in SC/CV/1151/2022 CA/AK/105A/2017 suit No. AK/173/2012.

The Association alleged that the signatory to the poster on various gates and houses, including that of Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa’s personal house, was signed by O.V. Omotayo.

Ojo said, “The stay of execution granted by the state High Court is in respect of the Appeal at Supreme Court in SC/CV/1151/2022, which is still pending in the Supreme Court.

“The stay of execution granted to the Owners and Residents by Justice Adebusoye is still subsisting until the determination of the Supreme Court case adjourned to March 2027.

“It is a global judicial practice that once a matter is before a supreme court, no execution from a lower court can be carried out until the matter is disposed of “

The Landlords Association maintained that
the matter had not been concluded in court and urged the landlords and house owners of the GRA to go about their lawful duties.

But the Olokunjuwon-Umelu, led by Prince Adegboyega Olokunjuwon, Thomas Ojo, and Prince Olusola Osore, maintained that
landlords and owners of properties in their community as trespassers.

They asked the landlords and property owners in the community to vacate the area or negotiate their continued stay on their family land.

In a statement signed by the trio of Olokunjuwon, Ojo, and Osore said; “The attention of the adjudged land-owning Olokunjuwon family of Umelu community, Alagbaka Extension, Akure has been drawn to a misleading and fallacious publication by some individuals who surreptitiously and clandestinely tagged themselves “Members of Landlords and Residents Associations” on Olokunjuwon family land, Alagbaka Extension, Akure.

“It has become imperative to correct the misrepresentation that may be occasioned by the misleading publication to the effect that;

“By a well-considered Judgment of the Ondo State High Court in Suit No: AK/173/2012 delivered on the 5th day of January 2017, the Olokunjuwon family of Umelu Community was adjudged the persons entitled to be granted Statutory Right of Occupancy in respect of the vast parcel of land measuring approximately 95.13 Hectares known as Umelu Community, Alagbaka Extension Akure.

“The Honourable court further directed the Olokunjuwon family to take immediate and exclusive possession of the vast parcel of land litigated upon, against any person whatsoever deriving title from either the Ajayi Elekumo family, Michael Kerubu Olojido, Mikolad Ventures Limited, or any of their privies and assigns.

“The Judgment of the Ondo State High Court was unanimously and unequivocally affirmed by the Court of Appeal held at Akure in Appeal No: CA/AK/105/2017 delivered on the 9th day of August 2022.

“The attempt to appeal the judgment of the Court of Appeal to the Supreme Court in Appeal Number: SC/CV/241/2023 by the Judgment Debtor was dealt a blow on the 4” April 2025, as the 5-man panel of the Apex court unanimously dismissed the said application for leave to appeal, the said application having been earlier refused by the Court of Appeal sometimes in January 2023, and stated that the judgment of the lower Court (Court of Appeal adjudging ownership of the vast parcel of land in favour of Olokunjuwon Family) IS UNASSILABLE, hence an affirmation of both the High Court and the Court of Appeal in favour of the Olokunjuwon family.

“The Purported members of the landlords and residents association who are the privies of the Judgment Debtors also attempted to appeal the judgment of the High Court as Interested parties which attempt was truncated in limine by the Court of Appeal in referring to their appeal as “dead on arrival” and time-wasting as the fatal attraction and the consequential malady foist on them was their own failure to follow the requirement of the law, leading to the ultimate death of their appeal.

“The so-called members of the landlords and residents’ association and their vendors having been declared trespassers by the court remain trespassers and like every other person under the sun, the members of the resident association and their vendors are bound by the decision of the Supreme Court in Appeal No: SC/CV/241/2023.

“The subject matter and issue of ownership and possessory right of the Olokunjuwon family of the Umelu community on the vast parcel of land has already been finally laid to rest by the Apex court on the 4th day of April 202. The so-called members of the landlord and resident association should not insist on carrying oxygen around the coffin. More so, the said Appeal Number: SC/CV/1151/2022 pending at the Supreme Court, which is currently being used as a shield by these so-called landlords and residents’ associations does not relate to the issue and subject matter of ownership and possession of the land already adjourned in favour of the Olokunjuwon family of Umelu Community.

Against this background, members of the public are advised to discountenance and disregard the misleading publication of these trespassers who surreptitiously tagged themselves ‘Landlords and Residents Association” on Olokunjuwon family land.

“The Apex court has spoken, the said publication is nothing but an affront and an attempt to prevent the Olokunjuwon family from reaping the fruit of their judgment. The trespassers on the land are advised to adhere to the notice given in their own interest.“