Hundreds of illegal occupants of the Think home Estate GRA, Awka, Anambra State capital are now counting their loses as hundred of them were rendered homeless Friday march 31,2023 following an order of court. The 21-year land dispute which involved former Vice Chancellor of Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka, Professor Ilochi Okafor,his Wife Egosonwa Okafor, former member of the Anambra State House of Assembly, late Val Elosiuba, who represented Idemili North one State constituency, and the present Deputy speaker of the Anambra State House of Assembly, Hon Pascal Agbodike, the Anambra State government on one side and Chief Jude Osude and his company Bekilo Farms Ltd on the other side.
The houses marked for demolition which has commenced includes that of the Deputy speaker, and over 30 others who bought the land from the land speculators. Our Correspondent gathered that they ignored the court order on the instructions of their masters, hence most of them left for markets, offices, schools and their various business even when they have been served the order of the court. In the judgement and order of court pasted at various wall of the buildings in the Estate, the Appealate court delivered judgement on the 17/12/2014 in favour of Chief Osude and Bekilo Farms Ltd against the family of former Vice Chancellor Prof. Ilochi Okafor and his cohort and ordered Chief Osude and Bekilo Farms to recover its property from the land grabbers.
This judgment noted that these land grabbers connived with some unscrupulous individuals in the Anambra state ministry of lands using their position to disposes rightful land owners their properties without valid allocation papers or certificate of occupancy. So in this judgment delivered by Justice Fredrick Oziakpono, the Anambra state government, which was also joined as parties in the case lost out and the Appeal by Chief Osude and his company, Bekilo Poultry and Agriculture Farms (WA) Ltd. succeeded to the hilt and it was accordingly allowed in the final judgment of the appeal court.
The crux of the matter was that the judgment of the Court below in Suit No:A/15/2009 delivered on the 17-12-2014 in which the lower court gave in favour of the wife of the vice Chancellor in error and subsequently was set aside and the cost of N200,000 awarded against the 1st respondent, Lady Egosonwa Okafor, wife of former UNIZIK VC in favour of the appellants, Chief Osude and his company.
The appeal judgment was therefore delivered in the consolidated Appeal in Appeal NO:CA/AW/192/2018; Hon. Comm.for Lands, Survey and Urban Planning, Anambra state and 1. Lady Egosonwa Okafor; vs Chief Jude Osude and Bekilo Poultry and Agricultural Farms (WA) Ltd.with understanding extracted from learned counsel in the two Appeals. Thus Appeal NO: CA/AW/485/2017 was decided and the decision in the said case was binding on all the parties in the two Appeals.
This became necessary when learned counsel to the parties in both Appeals told the Court that the Appeals had been consolidated by the previous panel of Court of Appeal, but could not draw attention to any such order made or any enrolled orders of the Court for the purpose.
Learned counsel therefore agreed that the parties shall be bound by the judgment given in Appeal NO:CA/AW/485/2017 since the parties and subject matter are same in both appeals. The facts of this Appeal, which are not in dispute is that by writ of summons, Chief Osude had instituted an action against Lady Okafor originally at the High Court, Awka division, which Bekilo Poultry Farms and Hon. Commissioner for Lands, Survey and Urban Planning were respectively joined as parties to the suit.
The case, according to Lady Okafor, is that a parcel of land in dispute originally customarily belonged to Jonathan Okoli family of Umudioka village, Awka. Subsequently, according to Lady Okafor, the Anambra state government constituted the said land of Jonathan Okoli family into Think Home Estste, GRA, Awka.
In 2002, on the strength of the application for compensatory plots by the said family, the Anambra state government approved the release of some plots of land to the said Jonathan Okoli family. Upon the release of these plots of land by the said government of Anambra state, the land owners partitioned the released plots and created the same as a private Estate consisting of 28 plots in the newly created estate known as “Ifunanya Pocket Estate”, GRA, Awka.
The said Jonathan Okoli family subsequently, according to Lady Okafor, donated a Power of Attorney to Hon. Val Elosiuba to manage the said plots of land for them. Lady Okafor however claimed she purchased, through the said Hon. Val Elosiuba, plots NOS. 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 10 and 12 in the said “Ifunanya Pocket Estate” in 2002. On the strength of the purchase, Lady Okafor said that she went into possession of the said plots of land and has some developments thereon.
In the case of Chief Osude and his company on the other hand is that on application, his company was allocated the parcel of land in dispute, known as Plots C/1 Think Home Estste, Awka. The said Plot C/1 Think Home Estate, Awka was allocated to his company as alternative plot for its land acquired by the Anambra state government. On being allocated the said parcel of land, his company applied to the Anambra state government to be issued with Building Certificate of Occupancy, which was accordingly issued to his company. On being availed of all the necessary and relevant documents in the respect of the said C/1 Think Home Estste, Awka, his company went into effective possession of the same, performing various acts on the same land. But sometime in 2004, some persons including the husband of Lady Okafor, Prof. Ilochi Okafor, SAN, trespassed into the land and started disturbing the peaceful occupation of the said land by his company. His company, Bekilo Poultry Farms took a civil option by suing the trespassers in court in Suit NO: A/108/2004. Lady Okafor’s husband, who was a party to the said suit at the time, later dissociated himself from the subject matter in the said suit in the statement of defense he filed making his company to withdraw against him.
Eventually, judgment was delivered in Suit NO: A/108/2004 on the 13-6-2007 to the knowledge of his company over the parcel of the land in dispute. As that was not enough in 2008, some persons sued his company and moved the High Court of Anambra state to be dissociated from the judgment delivered in Suit NO: A/108/2004.
The suit against his company was dismissed and the judgment in the suit NO: A/108/2004 adjudged to have universal effect. The Anambra state government, which allocated or granted the land in dispute to his company and which subsequently, issued his company a Certificate of Occupancy over the said land was said not to have revoked the said Certificate of Occupancy issued or granted to his company. What however, tends to be missing or considered an ominous gap in the story of Lady Okafor as far as the question of the ownership of the parcel of the land is concerned, is that she did not state or did not testify or lead evidence to show what became of the titles or rights of ownership of the previous allottee to the parcels of the land to who the state has issued with Certificate of Occupancy.
Were the titles of the previous allottee extinguished before allocation of same as compensatory plots to the Jonathan Okoli family?
It is important to note that the position of Chief Osude and his company on the question of whether their plot C/1 was revoke or not is that the Anambra state government who issued the said Certificate of Occupancy, never revoked same and that if at all any such revocation ever took place, that it was never brought to their notice as required by law.
This piece of evidence was never challenged and this therefore, leads this Court to the question of whether there was indeed a valid revocation of Chief Osude and his company’s right on the parcel of the land in dispute in view of the misleading and misguided findings of the Court below, which in essence gives the erroneous impression that the mere publication of revocation in newspaper, without more is capable of fulfilling the requirements of the law on revocation of a Certificate of Occupancy.
The Court of Appeal is therefore of the firm view that the Court below, by so doing failed woefully and lamentably to make a valid finding of the fact that is in tandem with extant laws and therefore, deserves to have the said finding jettisoned; set aside and it is hereby set aside.
The Appealate justice said that it is settled position of the law is that a Notice, simpliciter merely constitutes an intention on the part of the government to acquire or revoke the interests in the land, which does not vest until the Notices of acquisition is served on the owners under Section 28 and 44 of the said Land Use Act, Cap L 5 of the laws of Federation of Nigeria 2004.
It is, therefore, conclusive that the right or interest of a person in a piece of land is extinguished once a Notice signed by a public officer authorized by the Governor in that behalf is served on the holder of a right of Occupancy.
On the question of whether Lady Okafor proved special damages, Chief Osude and his company counsel contended that throughout the entire gamut of Lady Okafor’s pleadings there is nowhere she pleaded the rate of inflation in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008.
He further contended that no document whatsoever, emanated from government financial agencies showing the rate of inflation from 2003-2008 upon which Lady Okafor based her claims for special damages and in respect of which the Court below made its awards.
Against the backdrop of the submission of the counsel for Chief Osude and his company that Lady Okafor did not prove her special damages claimed as she failed to avail them of the facts and documents, which led to the conclusion summed and reached, Lady Okafor obviously in answers, had in paragraph 23 of her further amended statement of claim pleaded that she had constructed the fence in 2003 at a cost of N1, 304, 070.00 and that with inflation, the cost of replacing the fence as at the time has obviously spiraled upwards, thus had decided to claim the sum of N3, 090, 638.00.
The Appealate justice continued that the settled position of the law is that special damages are a species of damages, which the law will neither infer nor speculate upon. They are by their nature flow from acts, which do not follow in the ordinary course of events, but exceptional in their character and therefore must be claimed specially and proved strictly.
It is for this reason that for a claim in the nature of special damages to succeed, it must be proved strictly and the Court is not entitled to make its own estimation on such a claim.
Based on the foregoing, it is glaring that special damages will only be awarded if strictly proved and for this Lady Okafor in this case ought to have gone beyond hiding behind inflationary and without having to make the Court below take its decision on the issue based on speculating on the rate of inflation between 2003 and 2008.
Against the backdrop of forgoing, this Court hereby finds and holds that the special damages and general damages lumped together and awarded by the Court below were done in error. Consequently, the award of damages was set aside.
In the final analysis, this Appeal succeeds to the hilt and it is accordingly allowed. The judgment of the Court below, in Suit NO: A/15/2009 delivered on the 17-12-2014 is hereby set aside. There shall be cost of N200, 000.00 against Lady Okafor in favour of Chief Osude and his company.
