By Luqman Olabiyi
Almost two years after it recorded a legal victory, the family of the Ijiri-Okesa has taken possession of a parcel of land measuring approximately three acres located at Ijiri-Okesa, Ilogbo Asowo, Ogun State.
The judgment was successfully executed on Monday, October 4, 2021, as the family took possession of the land without resistance.
During the execution, which was carried out in the presence of court bailiffs and law enforcement officials, nothing was damaged or destroyed as the property was handed over to the counter-claimant, Ayuba Balogun, a member of Ijiri-Okesa family.
Clearly written on all the houses on the said land was “Possession Taken’’ while forms were pasted on the structures and on the fence.
A customary tenant, Dauda Bisiriyu, had filed suit number HCT/38/2015, before the High Court of Ogun State against Ayuba Balogun, for himself and on behalf of other members of the Ijiri-Okesa family.
The claimant sought for a declaration that he is the person entitled to the right of occupancy in respect of the three acres of land.
But the first defendant, Ayuba Balogun told the court that the claimant was not the owner of the land in dispute, but merely in possession by virtue of the customary tenancy granted to him by his family.
In a judgment delivered on January 4, 2020, by Justice S E Akinbiyi, the court held that “the claimant’s case failed in its entirety and that the counterclaim succeeded in its entirety”.
Justice Akinbiyi held that in order to transfer legal title, there must be a valid sale payment of money accompanied by acknowledgment of receipt and execution of a deed of conveyance in favour of the purchaser.
The court stated that the boundaries must be specific and certain, adding that it cannot be described simpliciter a “three acres”, but there must be a survey showing the length and breadth as well as boundaries of the disputed land.
The court also made an order of perpetual injunction restraining the claimant from going into the land in dispute.