On Tuesday, been the 21st of December, 2021, residents of the Magodo Phase 2 Estate in the Shangisha area of Lagos State woke up to see the estate gates locked; no one was allowed access in and no one was allowed access out, at the outside of the gate is parked loads of demolition trucks, bulldozers and caterpillars. Manning those heavy duty equipment are policemen, area boys (thugs), court bailiffs and some other law enforcement agents. They were trying to gain access into the estate to demolish some buildings and properties which had been marked for demolition, by this reason, the estate residents and landlords in the estate decided to shut the gate in order not to grant them access or any other person access till the situation gets handled.
What led to this situation:
During the military government in Nigeria in the year 1984, the military government forcefully seized, demolished and acquired some land belonging to some indigenous people of the Shangisha area of Lagos state; currently where the Magodo phase 2 estate is located. Since the properties were purportedly acquired by the military government for “public use”, then the indigenous owners of the land couldn’t do anything because public use overrides personal use and a government; be it democratic government or military government can acquire and take over anybody’s property for public use.
Tekedia Mini-MBA edition 16 (Feb 10 – May 3, 2025) opens registrations; register today for early bird discounts.
Tekedia AI in Business Masterclass opens registrations here.
Join Tekedia Capital Syndicate and invest in Africa’s finest startups here.
The land which was purportedly acquired for public use was subsequently sold by the military to some government officials and to some other persons connected to the government for private use. This made the indigenous people of Shangisha that the land was snatched from by the military government to approach the court for redress. Praying the court for their land to be given back to them since it’s not longer to be used for the public benefit as it’s already been sold to private owners.
The matter lingered for many years in court and finally got to the Supreme Court and on February 10th, 2012, the Supreme of Nigeria decided in favor of the Shangisha Landlord association who were the original owners of the land that the military forcefully snatched from them in the year 1984.
Since 2012 that the dispute was finally decided by the Supreme Court, the Shangisha landlords association according to report have done all they could to get the Lagos state government to sign the writ of possession to enable them execute the Supreme Court judgment to enable them take possession of the property or the government finding another amicable way to settle them, but that all proved abortive.
On Tuesday, 21st December, 2021, they decided to come down with court bailiffs and some law enforcement agents to execute the court judgement and take possession with an inscription which reads ‘ID/795/88 Possession Taken Today 21/12/21 by Court Order,’ pasted on various property on the estate.
Take home lesson: Don’t buy any property (even from the government) without first consulting a lawyer so you don’t find yourself in this same situation like the Magodo residents.
Thank you for this article.