The restriction of homeowners’ movement within the Pearl Garden Estate, located at Sangotedo Village in the Eti-Osa Local Government Area of the state, by CMB Building Maintenance and Investment Company Limited, has been deemed unlawful by a Lagos State High Court in Ikeja.
The pronouncement was delivered by the trial judge, Mufutau Olokoba, while giving judgment in a suit brought by some of the homeowners against CMB (property and estate management agency) and the Oyetubo Jokotade Estate Resource Limited (previous landowners).
The claimants filed the N100 million complaint on February 9, 2015, after a dispute with the property developer.
Messrs Francis Adesuyi, Felix Obiakor, Martin Ajayi-Obe, and Peter Afenotan filed it in their individual capacities and on behalf of all concerned homeowners in the Pearl Garden Estate.
The judge ruled that the defendants’ and their agents’ interference with the claimants’ rights by barricading and restricting their and other lawful residents’ mobility in and out of the estate was illegal and an infringement on their rights.
He ruled that the second defendant’s purported estate charge of N35,000 against the claimants was void.
The judge, on the other hand, refused to approve the claimants’ request that the defendants pay them N100 million in damages, stating that the defendants should bear the cost of the action.
