A Lagos State High Court sitting in Ikeja has invalidated the Federal Government’s acquisition of over 292 hectares of ancestral land belonging to the Onigbanko community in Irede, along the Lagos-Badagry Expressway, ruling that the process breached legal requirements.
In the judgement delivered on Wednesday, June 3, 2026, Justice Abdulfattah Lawal held that the acquisition was unlawful because the government failed to comply with mandatory procedures governing compulsory land acquisition, including due process, payment of compensation and acquisition for a legitimate public purpose.
The court also dismissed all preliminary objections raised by Nasco Investment & Property Company Limited.
The suit, marked ID/5709/2025, was filed by Oba Sheriff Adesina Bello, the Onigbanko of Igbanko, alongside other representatives of the Igbanko community, against Nasco Investment & Property Company Limited and the Attorney-General of the Federation.
In his decision, Justice Lawal agreed with the submissions of the claimants’ counsel, Moyosore Onigbanjo (SAN), that the defendants failed to prove that the statutory notices required for a compulsory acquisition were ever served on members of the affected community.
The judge held that this omission undermined the legality of the entire acquisition process, noting that there was no evidence before the court indicating whether or when the landowners received any notice of the acquisition.
The court further observed that neither the acquisition notice nor the relevant government gazette was presented as evidence during the proceedings.
Justice Lawal ruled that without proof that the required statutory notices were served, the government could not lawfully extinguish the proprietary rights of the Onigbanko community over the disputed land.
The court also dismissed the defendants’ argument that the suit was statute-barred, holding that the limitation period could not begin to run where there was no evidence showing when the claimants were notified of the acquisition.
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It equally rejected objections challenging the claimants’ locus standi and allegations of abuse of court process, finding that the defendants failed to establish that the acquisition had been lawfully completed.
On compensation, the court held that the defendants did not provide evidence that the community received compensation as required by law.
Justice Lawal ruled that excising part of the land could not be regarded as compensation and rejected the defendants’ claim that the community had waived its right to compensation, describing the alleged waiver as unsupported by credible evidence.
The court further found that although the land was officially acquired for the Nigerian Navy, documents tendered before the court, including lease and sublease agreements, showed that it was later transferred to Nasco Town Ltd, which subsequently assigned it to Nasco Estate and Property Development Company for private commercial development.
According to the judgement, the evidence established that the land was ultimately used to compensate Nasco rather than for the public purpose originally stated in the acquisition.
Justice Lawal held that diverting the land to a different purpose rendered the acquisition unlawful, stressing that a private commercial project does not qualify as a public purpose simply because it may provide incidental benefits to the public.
Consequently, the court declared the acquisition unconstitutional, illegal, null and void, and set it aside.
The court also issued an order restraining the defendants from entering, occupying or carrying out any development on the disputed land.
In addition, Justice Lawal awarded the claimants N300 million in damages for trespass and unlawful occupation of the land, as well as N12 million as the cost of the suit.