NICON Town residents urge court on trial over land

A procedural clash has emerged in the protracted land ownership dispute in NICON Town Estate, Lekki, as residents and plot owners urged a Lagos State High Court to reject the originating summons filed by Harris Dredging Limited and Nicon Town Management Company Plc.

The plot allottees prayed the court presided by Justice Olukayode Ogunjobi to convert the suit into a writ of summons to allow full pleadings and oral evidence.

The defendants comprising the Incorporated Trustees of the NICON Town Residents and Plot Owners’ Association and 14 individual homeowners told the court sitting at Tafawa Balewa Square(TBS) that the claimants’ chosen procedure is unsuitable for a dispute steeped in allegations of fraud, conflicting documents, disputed authority and competing historical claims to the land.

Harris Dredging and NTMC instituted Suit marked LD/5141/LM/2024, against the 15 defendants, seeking confirmation of Harris Dredging’s title to a 5,899.31sqm parcel of land located within the Community Centre Zone of NICON Town.

They also asked the court to declare that their 2010 Deed of Sub-Lease, registered as Instrument No. 76/76/2349 at the Lagos State Land Registry, remains valid and enforceable.