The Supreme Court has ruled that a portion of land currently occupied by the Federal College of Agriculture, Akure, belongs to the Ogunmokun Family of Akure, Ondo State.
In a judgment delivered last week but obtained on Wednesday, the apex court upheld earlier rulings of both the Ondo State High Court and the Court of Appeal, affirming the family’s right of occupancy over the disputed land.
The panel of Justices — Uwani Musa Abba Aji, Ibrahim M. Musa Saulawa, Emmanuel Akomolafe Agim, Chidiebere Nwaoma Uwa, and Abubakar Sadiq Umar — dismissed the appeal filed by the Federal Government and its agencies, including the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, the Federal Ministry of Lands, the Attorney General of the Federation, and the Federal College of Agriculture.
The case began when the Ogunmokun family sued the government at the Ondo State High Court, seeking a declaration of ownership over the land.
Defendants in the suit include 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, granted the family the right of occupancy of the land.
Not satisfied with the judgment, the government and its agencies filed an appeal to the appellate court to challenge the judgment of the lower court.
But the Court of Appeal upheld the judgment of the lower court.
In a unanimous decision read by Justice Fredrick Ono, the court described the appeal filed by the appellants as moribund and dismissed them accordingly with a fine of N500,000.00.
However, the apex court in a judgment read by Justice Uwani Abba Aji dismissed the notice of appeal filed by the Federal Government and its agencies.
The court held that the notice of appeal filed in April 2024 by the appellants was incompetent and was consequently struck 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 Notion filed 22/4/2024 is struck out been incompetent,” the court ruled.
Meanwhile, the head of the Ogunmokun Family, Michael Ajayi, in a reaction, expressed delight over the judgement and said the family had started serving a notice to the affected occupants of the land to vacate following the Supreme Court judgment.
