By Ayobami Ife, Abeokuta
ABEOKUTA: Oba Alli Ogunnaike Fibiwoga family in Odogbolu Local Government Area(LGA) of Ogun State has vowed to defend over 60 hectares of land situated at the LGA.
Describing it as a “family heritage” which has been in their possession since time immemorial, the family said the expanse land had also been charted several times in Oba Alli Ogunnaike Fibiwoga family name and had the survey approved by the Surveyor General of Ogun State.
The family head of Fibiwoga, Prince Moshood Salami, who made this known in a statement sighted by The Daily Crucible on Friday night, added that a recent report over the land from the Surveyor General’s office equally showed that
Oba Alli Ogunnaike Fibiwoga family
has at least 40 hectares from the entire land of over 60 hectares, which is free from any known Government acquisition.
Salami stated that this clarification became necessary following the fallout of a recent meeting with the
Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Ogun State, Mr. Oluwasina Ogungbade, SAN, over an issue brought to his attention by Sir kay Oluwo in respect of a judgment of Ogun State Customary Court dated October 11, 2021 in Suit No: ODCCGIC/13CL/2021.
He stated that the said judgment pertains to his family land designated as Oba Alli Ogunnaike Fibiwoga family land in the Odogbolu Local Government.
The Prince added that the Attorney General had vowed to face the family in litigation headlong, leaving out Sir Kay Oluwo and his associates, even as he claimed that the AG also boasted that the case would now be that of Ogun State Government against Oba Alli Ogunnaike Fibiwoga family.
He also alleged that the Ogun Attorney General took a decision concerning the land which the family members strongly believed could put their lives and others in grave danger.
The Daily Crucible reports that the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Oluwasina Ogungbade, SAN, had in a statement on Thursday, warned members of the public against the activities of land grabbers on Government Acquired land in the Odogbolu Local Government area of the state.
The AG stated that the Ministry of Justice had uncovered a “fraudulent and Improperly – obtained Customary Court judgement” with which the land grabbers intend to use in deceiving members of the public .
Ogungbade said: “The Ogun State Ministry of Justice is impelled by recent developments to issue this urgent notice.
“A few months ago, the Ministry received a petition from persons representing lineages and descendants of one Oba Alli Ogunnaike Fibiwoga (“Fibiwoga Family”).
“They claimed that they were properly adjudged owners of a family land within Odogbolu Local Government Area of Ogun State but were being disturbed in possession of that land by violent trespassers. They also presented a survey plan showing their 350-acre land.”
According to the Ogun Attorney General, “Further investigation of the complaints and scrutiny of the documents provided by these complainants showed that the land in question is government land.
“Also, two large Ogun State University properties are located on separate parts of the land, while other allottees of the State Government are on other parts.
“The entirety of the land claimed by Fibiwoga Family falls within government acquisition and encroaches on government occupied land.”
The Ogun ministry further stressed that “The judgment obtained at the Customary Court was both fraudulently and improperly obtained, because the complainants who approached that court as plaintiffs knew that the land did not belong to them but proceeded nonetheless to obtain same, while excluding the State Government who had obvious interest on the land.
It added that none of the named defendants was served with notice of the suit while trial and judgment curiously occurred on the same day, again without notice to the named defendants.
The ministry also stated that “The judgment that Fibiwoga Family obtained never described the land awarded to Fibiwoga Family and the plaintiffs in that case did not plead a survey plan before the Customary Court. In the reliefs it granted, the Customary Court never referred to the survey plan.
“Fibiwoga Family did not even mention the size of their land in all documents filed in court. It was only after the judgment had been delivered that Fibiwoga Family tied its current survey plan to the judgment of the customary court. That survey plan was never the basis of the orders granted by the Customary Court, and cannot be the basis of any execution today.”
In the same statement by the Ogun Attorney General, the state justice ministry alleged that “Fibiwoga family is currently, acting through a self-styled developer Obatob Properties Limited, now advertising this fraudulently occupied land as available to the public for use as a residential estate.”
The ministry also stressed that ” For the reasons stated above, the Ministry of Justice is taking steps to set aside the judgment that Fibiwoga Family (and Obatob Properties Limited) is fraudulently laying claim to. ”
It pointed out that “Even without the judgment being set aside, members of the public should be discerning enough to examine the judgment and ask these strange vendors where in the judgment the land was described as the one being sold or presented for sale today.
“Thus, the public is hereby put on notice that the claims of the Fibiwoga Family to 350 acres of land along Lagos Road, Apere Oba via Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State are fictitious, fraudulent, and baseless.
“In the same vein, Obatob Properties Limited has no land to develop, assign, allot, or administer in the described area. Any person who deals with either entity or any other private person regarding the land does so at their own peril, and at the risk of a firm government response.”
However, countering the ministry and commissioner, the family accused the Attorney General of addressing the press on April 3rd, 2025 wherein he cast serious aspersions on the integrity of three entities – the judiciary from which two judgments on the land in dispute emanated from, Fibiwoga family, and Messrs. Obatob Properties Ltd. that innocently bought a portion of the land for its business purpose.
The family head expressed concern that the AG chose to make the aspersions against them despite being asked to retrace his steps through a letter dated February 24, 2025 by the family solicitor, Messrs. PalmStars Solicitors, where they advised him to limit himself to his constitutionally assigned duties lest the office of the Attorney General clashes with the judiciary and renders the victory earlier recorded by the Fibiwoga Family on the said land as pyrrhic at the Court of Appeal where the matter is still pending.
Prince Salami noted that the press conference by the AG had tainted the family’s image and the credible business of Messrs. Obatob Properties Ltd., a real estate firm, which informed the need to for the Fibiwoga Family to put the record straight.
Salami said it was appalling that members of the royal family were deceitfully invited to the said press conference under the guise of a scheduled meeting with the Attorney General and the other party to further engage on the judgment of the Customary Court of Ogun State and the Ogun State Customary Court of Appeal on the land, even when the matter was still pending at the Court of Appeal, Ibadan Judicial Division.
He accused the AG of being unfair to the Fibiwoga Family, saying during the said press conference, the Attorney General relayed only his favourable part of the narrative to the media and afterwards, stormed out of the meeting without provision whatsoever for the family to Interrogate him or his claims.
And narrating how the land dispute began, Salami stated: “It all started from when we noticed that some group of people were encroaching on the Oba Alli Ogunnaike Fibiwoga family land in the Odogbolu Local Government Area Ogun State, Nigeria of which the family resolved to litigate the legality or otherwise of the trespassers’ actions in a competent court of law and which due process were followed and a valid judgment was delivered in line with extant laws of Ogun State, Nigeria.
“The said judgment was appealed to the Ogun State Customary Court of Appeal, Abeokuta, Ogun State and the panel of referred judges dismissed the appeal of the trespassers after entertaining arguments from the parties and found in favour of the judgment of the Customary Court dated 11th day of October, 2021. This same judgment of the Customary Court of Appeal delivered on 4th day of July, 2024 was further appealed to the Court of Appeal, Ibadan judicial division and awarded APPEAL NO: CA/IB/247/2024.
“Whilst this appeal continued to be pending and/or abandoned at the Court of Appeal in Ibadan, the trespassers in their continued act of trespass invited Sir Kay Oluwo (a notorious land grabber from Ikorodu) to permanently dominate the entire land maim and kill anyone who lay claims on any part of the land through our family or whosoever dares to continue the execution of the judgment of the court.
“While we continued to explore the process of the law to restrain these trespassers and await the judgment of the Court of Appeal, we received an invitation to attend a meeting with the trespassers and Sir Kay Oluwo from the office of the Honorable Attorney General on the 20th February, 2025, this notwithstanding the subsistent judgment of the court and the pending appeal before the Court of Appeal Ibadan Judicial Division.
“During the meeting of 20th February, 2025 which depicts that the Attorney General was sitting as an appellate court over the judgment of both Ogun State Customary Court and Customary Court of Appeal the Honorable Attorney General was emphatic when he said that parties should go back to the land and continue with their businesses despite the restraining orders of the court in favour of our family and against these trespassers.
“This decision that we verily believe will put the lives of our family members and others claiming through us in danger caused us to write the letter dated 24th February, 2025 through our solicitor Messrs. PalmStars Solicitors, addressed to the Attorney General wherein we respectfully advised his esteemed office on the need to limit himself to his constitutionally assigned duties so as the office of the Attorney General does not clash with the judiciary and render the victory recorded by us a pyrrhic victory before the Court of Appeal rule over the appeal already pending.
“Instead that the Honorable Attorney General retrace his steps, he called another meeting/press conference of 3th April, 2025 wherein he made serious aspersion against the integrity of the judiciary from which these two judgments emanated from, our family, and even the brand of Messrs. Obatob Properties Ltd. that innocently bought a portion of the land from our family for its business purpose.
“Whereas we shall restrain ourselves from delving into the merits of our case and actions as the Attorney General had promised to face us in litigation headlong, leaving out Sir Kay Oluwo and his cohorts, stating that the case is now between our family and the Ogun State Government. Nonetheless, it is important to point out the following:
“The parties in suit ODCCGII/13CL/2021 initiated at the Customary Court, Odogbolu were duly served several notices at every stage of the proceeding until judgment was delivered on the 11th day of October, 2021.
“The judgment of the Customary Court Odogbolu, had once been tested on appeal and same was affirmed to be valid for all intents and purposes and it is presently pending at the Court of Appeal, Ibadan.
“We did not by any string of imagination, fraudulently or through fake documents obtain the judgment of the Customary Court dated 11th day of October, 2021.
“Our family has more than 60 hectares of land on the Oba Fibiwoga family land in the Odogbolu Local Government Area Ogun State, Nigeria and we have been in actual possession of the said land since time immemorial.
“This expanse of land had severally been charted in our family name and survey approved by the Surveyor General of Ogun State.
“A recent report over the land from the Surveyor General’s office shows that our family has at least 40 hectares from the entire land of more than 60 hectares that is free from any known Government Acquisition.
“Messrs. Obatob Properties Ltd. validly bought from our land and we acknowledged his right to approach any relevant authority for perfection of its title including certificate of occupancy. We verily believe in the due process of law and our judicial system and we shall on our part be prepared to defend our family heritage.”
