Court Stops Ongoing Demolition At FESTAC

One Of The Buildings Being Demolished In FESTAC

Court orders the Federal Housing Authority and Lagos State Government to stop demolishing more homes

The Federal Housing Authority (FHA) and the Lagos State Building Control Agency (LSBCA) were ordered yesterday by a Lagos State High Court sitting in Ikeja to stop demolishing residential homes located on 6th Avenue in Festac Town, Amuwo Odofin Local Government Area, Lagos State.

Judge Omolade Awope, the trial judge, had issued the decision in response to a lawsuit filed by R. Balogun, Taoheed Amusa, Martinson Realtors Investment Limited, and Samuel Ahmed, who sought a preemptive injunction against the LSBCA and FHA.

Over 600 homes on Festac Town's 6th Avenue have been completely demolished and roughly 700 more have been partially demolished by FHA and LSBCA thus far.

Read also: 80% Of Illegal Structures Demolished In Lagos Owned By Yoruba — Professional Forum South-West (SOWPROF)

In the preemptive order of injunction, the court barred the first defendant/respondent from demolishing and/or removing any building or property erected in 6th Avenue Festac Town or any other part of Festac Town in alleged enforcement of “Town Planning Laws,” whether acting alone or through its agents, privies, assigns, or any special task force, paramilitary officers, or otherwise, however described. This was while the applicant was complying with the Lagos State High Court Practice Directions No. 2 of 2019 on Pre-action Protocol.

The order followed the claimants' motion exparte, in which they presented ten grounds for the order.

The reasons include, “That the instant suit was brought before the court under the order of the Supreme Court in Appeal Ne: 80.931/2007 delivered on (March 8, 2022, and re-initiated vide a writ of Summons and statement of claim dated January 26, 2023.”

The claimants claimed that the property at Fesac Town, Amuwo Odofin, Lagos State, which is more specifically described on the Survey Plan No. KESII/L/) 106 dated October 4, 1980, was the subject of the suit in a 40-paragraph affidavit that they deposed to in support of the motion.

It further claimed that, while the lawsuit was pending, the defendant entered the land that was the subject of the lawsuit, disregarded the court's procedures, and marked all the buildings the claimants had constructed there, as well as their privies, for demolition on the grounds that they had violated the defendant's planning laws. This claim was predicated on the defendant's purported ownership of the land.