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QUESTION 1: I JUST BOUGHT A LAND AWHILE AGO AND 6 MONTHS LATER I HAD A CALL THAT SOMEBODY HAS ENCROACHED ON MY LAND AND IS CLAIMING OWNERSHIP OF THE LAND I BOUGHT FROM ONE AJAMGBADI FAMILY MEMBER AT LANGBASA IN IBEJU LEKKI LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND HE HAS TOLD ME WHEN I WANTED TO BUY IT THAT IT WAS HIS FAMILY LAND AND IT HAS NEVER BEEN SOLD TO ANYONE. THE OTHER PARTY THAT ENCROACHED MY LAND IS TELLING ME ANOTHER FAMILY CALLED AGBALAGBI CHIEFTAINCY FAMILY CLAIMING TO BE THE FAMILY HEAD SOLD THE SAME LAND TO HIM 9MONTHS AGO AND HE TRAVELLED TO THE UK TO GATHER MONEY TO DO HIS FOUNDATION AND NOW HE IS BACK TO CLAIM FULL OWNERSHIP OF THE LAND. WHAT DO I DO? I HAVE INVESTED MY LAST SAVINGS IN THIS LAND AND I DON’T WANT TO LOSE MY MONEY AND LAND. I AM CONFUSED! WHAT IS THE NEXT STEP I SHOULD TAKE TO RE-CLAIM MY LAND? ANSWER:
Before you take that matter up to go to the police station or attempt to go to court that your land has been trespassed upon by an Usurper, you must first check yourself and the documents you possess as proof of ownership to know whether you have the following right documents to aid your case:
A. An Omonile Family Receipt from the Accredited Family Head and witnessed by both the Family Secretary and Principal Member stating their Family name and the date the Land was bought including the location of the plot of land, amount and known Family address.
B. A Duly signed Deed of Assignment showing the parties to the Agreement, the Family Members who sold the piece of land to you which must include the Family Members who sold the land to you which must include the Family Head, Secretary and Principal witness and it must be duly stamped.
C. A Valid Survey Plan showing all the Beacon Numbers, the Survey Plan number, the name of the Surveyor who surveyed it, the Year it was Surveyed including proof of Lodgment of the Red copy at the Survey-General’s office.
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D. Mode of Payment both through a Bank Check or Draft and including witness to the Transaction. This is the Position of the Law that was established in The Supreme Court Case between NWOKOROBIA V NWOGU IN 2009 where it was stated that One of the Ways to prove ownership of title to land is by Production of Documents of Title. What this means is that for you to prove that you have a better title over the person claiming ownership of the same land, you must have a lot of Documents to boost your claim of Ownership of that land better than the other person. TRUE STORY: There was a client I assisted to buy 2 plots at Okun Mopo Ibeju last year owned by a particular Omonile family branch. They were the toughest I have ever encountered. Over the years they had sold lands to various people and issued them only family receipt nothing more. They were so ignorant about their lands that they didn’t know their lands had a government Excision and till date they call their Excision >>>> ‘ EXTINCTION’ . So if you ever venture to Okun Mopo Ibeju and you meet a family member telling you that they now have good papers including Government Extinction, don’t be alarmed. They mean Excision . . lol Anyway, apart from the receipt, they issued no other form of documents to back up the Buyer’s claim and even a Survey plan wasn’t something they recommended. They would normally demarcate lands using Bamboo sticks to show which land they sold and the ones separated. I fought with them for weeks that apart from the Receipt, they should acknowledge a proof of receipt of the money via a Bank Draft. That one caused Wahala because they were used to collecting Millions of Naira in CASH so that they would share the money immediately amongst themselves. Using a Bank was a Taboo and I stood my ground for them to accept payment via a bank draft and acknowledge it. Also I finally forced them to sign a deed of assignment. In fact this one was akin to the Iraq war. They refused wholesomely because they weren’t used to such protocols. They abused and rained insults on me as an ‘ , LAWYER TOO GOOD, MR PROTOCOL ETC’ I wasn’t deterred and made sure I finally had my way and my Client had all the documents he needed. They collected another 100,000 Naira for the signing of the documents and my client complained bitterly about that extra 100k and I should have just taken the receipt and walked away. Little did he know 1 year after that ‘LAWYER TOO GOOD” Stubbornness of mine will come to assist him. When another person came from no where to lay claim to his own land saying that’s where the Omoniles gave him, he could only produce a receipt showing payment for one plot of land. That one plot was not described or defined in any way and he couldn’t trace the exact person who signed the receipt for him and when we got to the police station, We tendered our deed of assignment from the family directly, the Survey plan showing the exact specification and location of the land, a signed copy of the acknowldgement of money and official receipt including a copy of the Excision tracing the land to it and counter signed by the Cabinet Office at Alausa plus a picture of the Family receiving money and signing the documents. The other party was weak and kept on studying our documents till he gave up and promised to come back to shoot all the family members if they didn’t return his money. What killed the other party’s claim to the land was the lack of production of Documents to title. If he had all his documents intact and was as thorough as me, he won't have had this problem. So please get all your documents intact so as to aid your case tomorrow in case there is any dispute on your land.
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QUESTION 2: OK WHAT IF THE OTHER PARTY CLAIMING OWNERSHIP OF THE LAND ALSO HAS ALL THE SAME DOCUMENTS I ALSO HAVE? WHO THEN OWNS THE LAND? ANSWER: The Position of the Law is that WHEN THERE ARE 2 CONTENDING PARTIES IN THE DISPUTE DERIVED FROM A COMMON SELLER, THE FIRST IN TIME TAKES PRIORITY. This means the First person on the land who bought his first has the strongest title and the second person must give way to the earlier Purchaser no matter how painful it is for the second buyer. This was stated in The Supreme Court Case between AYANWALE V ODUSAMI IN 2011. Here the First in time means the first person who first bought the land through all the evidences of the documents he has before the second person bought the land unknowingly. That is why you must do a search properly before you buy any land so that you don’t fall victim of this Rule and be the unfortunate second person on the land. Omoniles are extremely fond of this whereby they resell the same land to 2 or more people because of their greed or because the land has been left unattended to. Please be careful and be wise here.
3.QUESTION : BUT WAIT LAWYER YOU SAID IF THE LAND WAS BOUGHT FROM A COMMON SELLER WHICH MEANS THE SAME PERSON BUT THE PERSON WHO SOLD IT TO ME SAID HE WAS THE FAMILY HEAD OF THE AJANGBADI CHIEFTAINCY FAMILY WHO SIGNED MY DOCUMENTS AND WITNESSED BY A PRINCIPAL MEMBER OF THAT AJAMGBADI FAMILY AT LANGBASA IN IBEJU LEKKI LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND WHILE THE OTHER PERSON CONTESTING THE LAND WITH ME ALSO BROUGHT DOCUMENTS SHOWING ANOTHER FAMILY HEAD OF THE AGBALUMO CHIEFTAINCY FAMILY AT LANGBASA IN IBEJU LEKKI LOCAL GOVERNMENT WHO ARE ALSO CLAIMING TO BE THR TRUE OWNERS OF THE LAND SOLD TO HIM. WHO THEN ARE WE TO BELIEVE AND TRUST AND HOW DO WE DETERMINE THE TRUE TRADITIONAL FAMILY THAT HAD THE RIGHT TO SELL THE LAND? ANSWER: The Legal Rule here is that a party relying on Evidence of tradition in proof of ownership of land when it relates as to the true ownership of the Land Family Wise, must establish facts as to the following: A. WHO FOUNDED THE LAND B. HOW THE LAND WAS FOUNDED C. HOW THE LAND WAS TRANSFERRED TO THEIR FAMILY FROM TIME IMMEMORIAL AND IT MUST STAND ON PURE TRADITONAL HISTORY WHICH CAN BE FURTHER CONFIRMED. D. THE FAMILY WHO SOLD THE LAND TO THE BUYER MUST ESTABLISH THEY ARE THE TRUE AND GENUINE OWNERS WITH COGENT, CREDIBLE, CONSISTENT AND UNCONTRADICTED EVIDENCE TO SHOW THAT THEY HAD THE CAPACITY TO SELL. Evidence that are not Consistent, but have discrepancies cannot support a party’s proof of ownership to land. (This is where it is important to do a proper family search to determine the true owners of the land. Due to our traditional family culture, Land is passed down to many wives and Children and each portion of land is Partitioned to give each branch of family its own portion to manage, Use or sell and it’s the Buyer’s duty to determine which family land has been properly partitioned and has the capacity to sell. The problem arises when another Omonile member from another portioned family decides to go and sell lands that doesn’t belong to his family side or that has been properly apportioned by the General family head and he ends up issuing false receipts and signing false documents under the pretext of being the True Family head. The Law will not back you up because the transaction was dubious from the beginning. So a proper family search will aid you here so that you don’t look like a fool in front of the Police or Court when your trying to prove your case because it will definitely fail in favour of the other party also claiming ownership of that same land. TRUE STORY: I Assisted a Client sometime in 2008 to buy some plots of land somewhere in Langbassa Ibeju Lekki . Now this wasn’t my kind of land I usually assist people to buy because the Land was a large expanse of Virgin land that just had a general Perimeter survey plan and the Gazette that time was still under processing at Alausa so it really didn’t have any legal document to back the claims of the sellers of the Land apart from the Perimeter Survey and the family stories of First ownership of the land from time immemorial due to conquest from another rival village and their great grand father took possession of the lands which has devolved down to the children over time. There was no way to ascertain ownership of the land at Alausa or at the Survey General’s office apart from the land was under acquisition and that the community were applying for their Gazette. The client was adamant that he want to buy those lands because they were cheap and that the Family head had told him there was no wahala on the land and no other person or group of persons could lay claim to the land other than his family. On the strength of the Family Head’s claim, I reluctantly agreed to the purchase of the lands and he was issued a Deed of Assignment and Family receipt. One major thing I fought for before I made my client part with money was to Incorporate in the Deed of Assignment the stories how the Family head claimed Ownership of land transferred to them over the years and made sure the family head and 7 other family members sign the deed of assignment and consented to the receipt issued by the Family head. The client was happy he had secured a good deed and left the land unattended to and news now filtered to him sometime last year that Another person had started clearing his land to build and when he came to confront the person it led to a shouting match and police coming to arrest all parties. During the Investigation, the new person couldn’t trace his ownership of the land to the family properly and how the land transferred to him while the Family head attested to the ownership of the land by calling all the names that from time immemorial was in possession of the land till it got to my client. This proof of Traditional evidence helped my client regain his land and his lawyer even had to drop the case because his client couldn’t prove he had the traditional evidence to trace the title of his land.
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4. QUESTION: BUT WHEN I SAW THE SURVEY PLAN OF THE OTHER PERSON CLAIMING OWNERSHIP OF THE LAND I FOUND OUT IT IS NOT THE SAME LIKE MY OWN. THE ADJOURNING LAND AND STREET DRAWN ON HIS SURVEY PLAN IS DIFFERENT BUT HE IS CLAIMING THAT MY LAND IS HIS LAND AND THAT IT IS WHERE THE OMONILES TOOK HIM TO, IS THE SAME LAND REFLECTING ON THEIR OWN FAMILY SURVEY PLAN. HOW DO I RESOLVE THIS DUPLICATE SURVEY PLAN WAHALA? ANSWER: There are 3 Steps here to ascertain True ownership of land with respect to a Survey Dispute: A. A Survey Plan must be tendered showing all the features of the land and showing clearly the boundaries as properly described. B. A Competent Registered Surveyor must test and ascertain with certainty that the Survey Plan he is holding is an accurate survey plan and it has been properly lodged in the Surveyor general’s office for the record and matches the one in their record. C. The identity of the land must be clearly ascertained and it must match what is on the Survey plan and the boundaries must be shown with all certainty. If your survey plan is not properly drawn and described properly and most especially it isn’t lodged in the surveyor general’s office and the survey plan cannot properly show it is connected with other adjoining lands beside it, then your survey plan cannot help you in swaying the property in your favour. Read more about fraudulent Surveyors and Survey plans here: Top 10 Land Survey Plan Scams By Fraudulent Land Surveyors! Study It Carefully http://www.nairaland.com/921525/top-10-land-survey-pla
5. QUESTION: WHAT HAPPENS NOW THAT THE SELLER HAS GIVEN ME FAKE DOCUMENTS, FAKE RECEIPT, SHOWED ME A WRONG LAND AND HAS NOT RETURNED MY MONEY AFTER MUCH DEMAND FOR IT? WHAT ARE MY REMEDIES HERE? ANSWER: This is a clear case of Fraud or Obtaining under False Pretext because the Seller had no capacity from the very beginning to sell the land, so you have not title. So the remedy open to you is to report the matter to the Special Fraud Unit of the Police or if the cost of the land is above 5Million, the EFCC will handle the case for you to recover the money for you and or prosecute the fraudulent seller or sellers on your behalf. To be honest a lot of people are under the delusion that we are still under Military Rule and that when there is a land dispute, Soldiers, Police, Lawyers and para military men should immediately come in, beat everybody up and immediately the land will be restored back to you. This is not true. A land dispute is a civil matter and its only the courts that can resolve the issues at hand. Unfortunately most people don’t like this option because of the incessant court delays but that is the law and that’s the only option open to people who feel that their lands have been trespassed upon. The police cannot solve a breach of contract or a dispute as to land based on documents discrepancies because its not under their jurisdiction to do so except there is a clear case of fraud or forgery or obtaining money under false pretext. So please know your choices and don’t run afoul of the law. That’s why it is always advisable to make sure you do a proper search from the beginning and get your lawyer to get ALL THE NECESSARY DOCUMENTS in your favour to assist your case as proof of evidence of Ownership.
6. QUESTION: WHAT OTHER ALTERNATIVE IS AVAILABLE OTHER THAN GOING TO COURT OR THE POLICE WHEN THE SELLER HAS DISCOVERED HIS MISTAKE OR HAS NO MONEY TO REFUND BUT HAS OTHER LANDS AND IS READY TO RELOCATE THE SELLER TO COMPENSATE HIM? WHAT SHOULD HE DO IN THIS SITUATION? ANSWER: The truth here is that RELOCATION is the only way out and this is a very painful choice to take and swallow but in most situations, it is the best situation to escape the anguish, pain, police wahala, court delay, shouting, screaming, complaining, fighting and a host of other knee jerk reactions when it happens. All the shouting on this planet will will not bring your money back or land back because the Seller has “Chopped” the money and he cannot refund it and the land has been awarded to the other party. So accepting relocation from the original location compared to the you bought seems the best option. Although it is painful to assimilate this option after going through the whole process of buying a land for you to finally accept a relocation, but it’s the best way to resolve the whole wahala because land never devalues and new locations will always spring up to make it attractive for you and you can resell it in future to make a profit. In this situation at least your still holding on to something tangible. What if the Seller dies during the court case, what if he absconds, what if he value of that area he intends to give increases? You have to look at all the positives involved here instead of the negatives so that at least you gain something. This is Lagos. Land transactions are not always smooth. Its filled with a lot of hiccups and issues and its not a perfect scenario. Even i that is so meticulous in the way i do things still encounter new landed issues everyday that throws me off balance and i have to find a way to make it successful. So embrace that option if you are opportuned. Its my own candid advise that most people that find themselves in this situation should embrace reconciliation and arbitration if the opportunity arises and take the land they intend to relocate you to as long as its legal, free from defect and genuine and if possible the seller should do something extra to try and appease the buyer such as assist with foundation money or blocks or something to help mitigate the whole pain but if you’re the type ready to go to court till you ascertain your right, take that option. Its all a matter of choice. But this rule does not apply to a fraudulent Seller or Agent who willingly and knowingly sold defective lands he had no capacity to sell from the beginning or someone who knowingly defrauds you by selling a land to 2 or more people. Such a person is a dupe, scammer and fraudster and that’s where the police or EFCC has the right the right to arrest and prosecute on your behalf and if he is not ready to return your money in full, his assets will be sold and he will still serve time for his crimes. Such people do not have the capacity to relocate anybody because they didn’t have anything to sell in the first instance, so they should be dealt with with an iron hand and the authorities must be involved so as to serve as a deterrent to others. There are many more remedies available when there are Land Disputes but these are the ones I can remember now off hand. You can always consult your Lawyer to give you more tips on how to go about it or get in touch with me privately to assist. Do have a wonderful day ahead of you and we pray to God you and your children’s children should not encounter such Land Wahala in future.