The Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos has challenged a judgement of the Lagos State High Court declaring the Lagos State Government the proprietor of a disputed property at No. 17/19 Okoya Street, Idumagbo, Lagos Island.
The Archdiocese, via the Sole Trustee of the Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos, is asking the Court of Appeal, Lagos Division, to put aside the judgement delivered by Justice I. O. Kasali on January 10, 2018, and uphold its declare to the property.
In its proposed amended discover of enchantment, filed in Appeal No. CA/L/W/644/2019, arising from Suit No. LD/120/2000, the church faulted the decrease courtroom’s choice, arguing that the Lagos State Government’s takeover of the administration of St. Patrick’s Catholic Primary School didn’t mechanically switch possession of the land to the federal government.
The Archdiocese contended that it acquired your complete property at No. 17/19 Okoya Street from the Lagos Executive Development Board via a conveyance dated September 15, 1938, registered as No. 27 at web page 27 in Volume 483 on the Lands Registry, Alausa.
It argued that the title doc constituted proof of its possession, including that there was no proof that its proprietary curiosity within the disputed property had been lawfully acquired or revoked by the state authorities.
According to the church, the property includes a big tract of land masking Block 1, Plots 1, 2, 3, 16, 17 and 18, which homes St. Patrick’s Catholic Church and the first faculty.
The appellant maintained that the federal government had claimed to have acquired the college, not the church premises or your complete property.
It additional argued that the trial courtroom failed to tell apart between the college premises and the church’s different amenities, together with a dilapidated construction that had beforehand served as a faculty constructing and church corridor earlier than a brand new faculty constructing was constructed.
The church alleged that the previous construction continued for use as a church corridor for Sunday providers and different non secular actions, insisting that the federal government had by no means used it after taking up the administration of the college.
The Archdiocese faulted the trial decide for declaring your complete property government-owned and granting possession to the Lagos State Government with out ample proof establishing the exact boundaries and extent of the land allegedly acquired.
It argued that the federal government failed to provide the related acquisition instrument or set up the precise portion of the property lined by the purported acquisition.
The appellant additionally contended that the decrease courtroom wrongly relied on the events’ alleged admission that the federal government took management and administration of faculties in 1979, underneath the administration of the then Lagos State Governor, Lateef Jakande, to conclude that the disputed property belonged to the state.
According to the church, an admission that the federal government assumed management of a faculty doesn’t, by itself, set up possession of the land on which the college stands.
It maintained that the respondents did not exhibit that the takeover of St. Patrick’s Catholic Primary School included the deserted constructing and different parts of the property claimed by the Archdiocese.
The church additional argued that the trial courtroom did not correctly consider proof allegedly given by authorities witnesses throughout cross-examination, which, in line with the appellant, supported its place that the federal government took over the college reasonably than your complete property.
It additionally faulted the decrease courtroom for dismissing its counterclaim regardless of what it described as documentary proof of its title and its longstanding train of possession rights over the land.
In difficult the judgement, the Archdiocese cited a number of judicial authorities on proof of title to land, the necessities for granting declaratory reliefs and the necessity for a claimant to determine the exact identification and extent of disputed land.
The appellant additionally raised questions in regards to the authorized foundation for the alleged acquisition, arguing that the state authorities failed to determine compliance with relevant legal guidelines governing the acquisition of personal property, together with the Land Use Act and Section 44 of the 1999 Constitution.
It additional argued that the trial courtroom must have thought-about the choice in Archbishop Okogie v. Attorney General of Lagos State (1981) 2 NCLR 337, which it cited in help of its rivalry in regards to the authorized framework for the acquisition of personal major faculties in Lagos State.
The Archdiocese is asking the Court of Appeal to permit its enchantment and put aside the High Court judgement declaring the Lagos State Government the proprietor of the property.
It can also be searching for an order dismissing the federal government’s counterclaim, setting apart the purported acquisition of St. Patrick’s Catholic Primary School premises at No. 17/19 Okoya Street, Idumagbo, and granting the church’s counterclaim in its entirety.
The proposed amended discover of enchantment incorporates 10 grounds of enchantment, difficult the trial courtroom’s findings on possession, the alleged acquisition, the analysis of proof and the dismissal of the church’s counterclaim.
