Lagos High Court Stops Government from Taking Over 80-Year-Old Widow’s Lekki Estate
Lagos High Court Stops Government from Taking Over 80-Year-Old Widow’s Lekki Estate
A Lagos State High Court sitting in Yaba has issued an interim order restraining the Lagos State Government and other defendants from taking possession of or interfering with an estate belonging to an 80-year-old widow in the Lekki Peninsula Scheme I area of Lagos.
The order was granted by Justice E.O. Ashade following an application filed by Chief H.A.K. Shonowo, who is suing on her own behalf and on behalf of the estate of her late husband, Chief Owodiran Olusoga Shonowo. The suit seeks to preserve the disputed property pending the determination of the substantive case.
The disputed estate comprises 11 units of four-bedroom terrace houses, three units of three-bedroom flats, a two-bedroom apartment, and a commercial shop situated on approximately 4,000 square metres of land in Lekki Peninsula Scheme I, Eti-Osa Local Government Area.
In his ruling, Justice Ashade held that the claimant had established sufficient grounds for the interim relief, stressing that parties involved in ongoing litigation must refrain from taking actions capable of affecting the court’s jurisdiction or prejudicing the outcome of the case.
The court consequently restrained the defendants, their agents, and representatives from taking possession of, reassigning, transferring, or interfering with the claimant’s alleged rights over the property until the pending motion is heard and determined. As part of the conditions attached to the order, the claimant was directed to file an undertaking of ₦1 million to indemnify the defendants should the injunction later be found to have been wrongly granted.
According to court documents, the land was originally allocated to the claimant and her late husband in 1996 under a Certificate of Occupancy. The claimant alleged that the right of occupancy was revoked in 2020 and that she was later informed in March 2026 of plans to take over the property, prompting the legal action now before the court.
