Court Renews Injunction Restricting Ogun from Contested Land
Court Renews Injunction Restricting Ogun from Contested Land
Justice O.S. Oloyede of the Ogun State High Court, sitting in Sagamu, on Monday, extended by three months an interim injunction restraining Governor Dapo Abiodun, his agents, Industrial Platform Remo Limited, and Arise Integrated Industrial Platform from encroaching on 15,309 acres of land belonging to Ilara Remo in Remo North Local Government Area.
At the resumed hearing of the case, marked HCS/377/2025 and filed on August 18, 2025, Justice Oloyede ordered the extension of the injunction, which was first granted on September 1, to enable the defendants’ counsel to regularise their filings before the court.
Mr M. O. Enitan, who stood in for Olasupo Sashore (SAN), the counsel for the first defendants (Abiodun); Mr W. A. Onawole from the state Ministry of Justice and counsel for the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice as well as Bureau of Land and Mr M. O. Mordi, counsel for the fourth defendant, Industrial Platform Remo, told the court that they were yet to regularise their papers.
The counsel for the claimants, Dr Olumide Ayeni (SAN), in light of the submissions by the counsel for the defendants, pleaded for the extension of the injunction order pending the next adjournment date.
Judge Oloyede, acceding to the request of the claimants, therefore, fixed January 13, 2026, for further hearing of the suit.
The court had earlier granted the injunction following an ex parte motion and affidavit of urgency filed by the Lisa of Ilara Remo, Chief Samuel Olukoya Sodunola; the Oliwo Egudu of Ilara Remo, Chief Babatunde Ogunfeso; the Olootu Asipa Oje of Ilara Remo, Chief Ayedun Akintoye; Mrs. Remilekun Ogunfuwa, Public Relations Officer of the Ilara Remo Development Association; along with 19 others.
In the suit, dated August 18, 2025, the applicants sought an interim order restraining the defendants, their agents, officers, or privies from trespassing on, alienating, or otherwise interfering with the disputed land measuring about 6,227.91 hectares (15,309.172 acres), as described in Survey Plan No. IL/02/PROV/1998 of June 18, 1998, pending the hearing of their motion for interlocutory injunction.
Counsel to the applicants, Ayeni, maintained that his clients are the rightful legal and beneficial owners of the land. He accused the fourth and fifth defendants of “secretly erecting structures” and transferring portions of the property to third parties in a bid to “foist a fait accompli on the court.”
Ayeni further argued that the 4th and 5th defendants, with the backing of the 1st and 2nd defendants, had persisted in entering the applicants’ land, carrying out construction, and alienating portions of it, and would continue unless restrained. He stressed that monetary damages would not adequately compensate the applicants should judgment be delivered in their favour.
He added that granting the injunction would cause no prejudice to the defendants, noting that preserving the status quo ante bellum was necessary in the interest of justice until the substantive matter is determined.
