In a landmark ruling yesterday, the Lagos Division of the Courtroom of Enchantment overturned a 2013 Federal Excessive Courtroom judgment within the case of RCN Networks Ltd v. Warranty Belief {Bank} PLC (CA/L/888/2014), successfully restoring possession of a 44-room mansion valued at ₦30 billion to Alhaji Agboola Abiola, son of the late June 12, 1993, presidential election winner, Bashorun M.Okay.O. Abiola.
The Federal Excessive Courtroom’s unique choice had led to what the Appellate Courtroom described because the “illegal foreclosures” of the property by Warranty Belief {Bank} (GTBank). In its unanimous judgment, the three-member panel held that the trial court docket “ignored evident discrepancies on the execution web page” of a tripartite authorized mortgage registered in opposition to the mansion on the Lagos State Land Registry.
Among the many defects famous by the Enchantment Courtroom was that the mortgage doc was by no means signed by Alhaji Abiola, the alleged mortgagor. The court docket additionally highlighted that its footer contained “handwritten alterations not current on different pages,” which the Appellant had argued pointed to outright forgery by GTBank. These deficiencies, the court docket concluded, rendered the mortgage “so poor that it was incapable of conferring on the stated {bank} any authorized rights to foreclose on the property.”
Upon establishing these details, the Courtroom of Enchantment discharged all prices and encumbrances that GTBank had levied on the property in favour of RCN Networks Ltd. Dr. Charles Adeogun-Phillips, SAN, appeared for the Appellant, whereas Mr. Norrison Quakers, SAN, represented GTBank.
The choice not solely vindicates the Abiola household’s claims but additionally units a big precedent on the strict necessities for mortgage documentation and execution in Nigeria’s land registration system.