Supreme Court Rules Against FG In Ondo Land Dispute

The Supreme Court has ruled that a portion of the land currently occupied by the Federal College of Agriculture, Akure, legally belongs to the Ogunmokun family of Akure, Ondo State.

A panel of Justices, including Uwani Aji, Ibrahim Saulawa, Emmanuel Agim, Chidiebere Nwaoma, and Abubakar Sadiq Umar, delivered the unanimous judgment on Wednesday.

This ruling upholds the previous verdict of the Court of Appeal on the same matter.

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The legal dispute originated when the Ogunmokun family initiated proceedings at the Ondo State High Court in Akure, seeking official recognition of their land ownership.

The defendants in the case included the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, the Federal College of Agriculture, the Federal Ministry of Lands, Housing, and Urban Development, and the Attorney General and Minister of Justice.

The High Court, presided over by Justice Adegboyega Adebusoye, initially granted the family the right of occupancy to the land. Dissatisfied, the government and its agencies appealed this decision to the appellate court.

However, the Court of Appeal, in a unanimous decision read by Justice Fredrick Ono, upheld the lower court’s judgment, dismissing the appeal as “moribund” and imposing a N500,000 fine.

The judgment debtors then escalated the case to the Supreme Court, seeking to overturn the Court of Appeal’s decision.

However, the apex court, in a judgment read by Justice Aji, dismissed the Federal Government and its agencies’ notice of appeal.

The court declared the appeal, filed in April 2024, as “incompetent” and consequently struck it out.

“Application filed on 4/8/2035 for an order granting leave to the appellant to amend his Notice of Appeal is hereby struck out. The motion filed 22/4/202/4 is struck out as incompetent,” the court ruled.

Reacting to the favorable judgment, Michael Ajayi, the head of the Ogunmokun Family, expressed his pleasure and confirmed that the family had begun serving notices to the current occupants of the land, instructing them to vacate the premises.