A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has granted an interim injunction restraining the Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development and their servants, agents, and privies from demolishing a property owned on Banana Island, Lagos.
The property at issue is the estate’s Boat ClubHouse situated at OT QC in Banana Island, Ikoyi, Lagos, which the ministry wants to demolish to pave the way for the construction of an access road to an upcoming estate to be known as Apple Island.
The court injunction is on a case which the Incorporated Trustees of the Banana Island Property Owners/Residents Association instituted against the Attorney-General of the Federation, the Minister of Housing and Urban Development and the Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, praying the court to stop them from carrying out the demolition of the property.
The court, upon reading through the Motion and its affidavit of 25 paragraphs deposed to by Chief Ugo Nnabuife, Nigerian citizen and legal practitioner of P35, 219 Close, Banana Island, Ikoyi, Lagos State, with attached exhibits and a written address signed by Okechukwu Tagboo Dike Esq., all filed at the court registry in Ikoyi, Lagos, ordered the defendants to stay action.
The order restrains the AGF, the minister, the ministry, and their servants, agents or privies from taking any action in respect of the Plaintiffs’ Boat Clubhouse, as stated in their letter of 28/02/2025, pending the determination of the motion on notice.
The court also issued an interim order that the status quo in respect of the Plaintiffs’ Boat Clubhouse, as of the date the action was instituted, be maintained by parties to this suit, pending the determination of the Motion on Notice.
Furthermore, the court, after hearing O. Adejuyigbe (SAN) with M. O. Afolabi Esq., Counsel for the Plaintiff/Applicant, and having carefully considered the application and submissions of the counsel, also ordered that the status quo in respect of the Plaintiffs’ Boat CIubHouse be maintained by the parties, pending the determination of the Motion on Notice.
The residents of the estate said they were rattled that, despite several court orders and interim injunctions, officials of the Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development still invaded the estate on Tuesday morning to demolish the Boat Clubhouse.
“You needed to be here early enough to see the harassment and intimidation which these officials subjected our residents to this morning,” a resident of the estate who did not want his name in print told our reporter who was at the estate on Tuesday.
He lamented that court orders are no longer respected, especially by the government and its agencies.
“This matter is in court, and there is an interim injunction restraining these people from demolishing our property, yet they were here in their numbers to carry out the demolition. What do you call a thing like this?” he queried.
In their bid to maintain peace, the management blocked the entrance to the estate such that there was neither entry nor exit for several hours until the invading ministry officials left.
