Justice Othman Musa of a Federal Capital Territory, FCT, High Court sitting in Maitama has ordered the Nigeria Police to unseal a disputed property located in the Lekki area of Lagos.
Justice Musa ordered the Assistant Inspector General of Police, Zone 2, Lagos State, to forthwith unseal the property in dispute, which the court had sealed via en exparte order granted in the case.
Officers of the court had in December 2025 sealed up the property located at Lekki Peninsula Scheme, Lagos, following an exparte order granted by Justice Musa.
The sealed up property houses various business entities which have been operating from the premises for several years.
The exparte order was granted in a fundamental rights enforcement suit numbered FCT/HC/CV/4636/2025, instituted by Mr. Henry Ugonna Orabuchi against the Nigeria Police Force and others.
The plaintiff (Orabuchi) had alleged that his fundamental rights as guaranteed under sections 34, 35, 36, 37, 41, and 44 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), and articles 9 and 14 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act, have been breached.
He claimed that he purchased 3,000 square meters of reclaimed land situated at the back of Plot No A Block 12, Lekki Peninsula Scheme, Lagos State from the Landlord, Mr. Emecheta Elvis Eze, which has nothing to do with the premises where the business entities are located.
The plaintiff filed the suit to shield him from honouring the invitation of the Nigeria Police Force, following a petition against him by Prof. Mike Ozekhome, SAN, (lawyer to Mr. Emecheta) over alleged criminal trespass, damage to property and threat to life.
In the fundamental rights suit filed by the law office of Chikaosolu Ojukwu, SAN, on behalf of the plaintiff, it was argued that the police invitation infringes on Orabuchi’s fundamental rights and is aimed at compelling him into relinquishing his lawful proprietary and contractual rights over the 3,000 square meters of reclaimed land behind the sealed up property.
In his exparte application, Ojukwu urged the court to grant an exparte order to seal up the Lagos property.
On November 24, 2025, the court granted an order to seal and secure the entire property, including the reclaimed land at the back of the property measuring 3,000 square meters. The judge also ordered the immediate stoppage of all construction works, activities, actions or steps on the said property while ensuring that no person, authority or entity is permitted access to or entry upon the property pending the hearing and determination of the substantive suit pending before the court.
However, at the last hearing in the matter, after counsel had made their submissions, Justice Musa held that the Applicant is entitled to the rights to personal liberty, freedom of movement, and property interests as guaranteed under sections 35, 41, and 44(1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), and articles 9 and 14 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act.
Vacating the earlier exparte order, the court held, “It is hereby declared that the 1st Respondent, whether acting through the 2nd Respondent, any other officer under its command and control, including the 3rd and 4th Respondents, or any section, unit or department however described, cannot, under the guise of an investigation, invite, arrest, detain, or otherwise harass the Applicant, whether on its own volition or at the prompting or instigation of the 5th Respondent or an. other person, in respect of the contract of sale dated 25th January 2023 between the 5th Respondent and the Applicant, the dispute being purely civil and contractual in nature.
“As I have earlier mentioned in this judgment, when this matter came up on 26/02/2026, Learned Senior Counsel for the 5th Respondent, Chief Arthur Obi Okafor, SAN, drew the attention of the Court to Motion No. M/16911/2025 seeking to set aside the interim order of this Court made on 24/11/2025 and, with the agreement of the parties, the said application was to abide by the judgment of this Court.
“Having now delivered judgment in this matter, the said motion is, by operation of law, deemed to have been determined and subsumed by this judgement. The interim order of this Court made on 24/11/2025 has, upon the final determination of this suit, spent its force and ceased to have any operative effect; nevertheless, for the avoidance of any doubt, the said order is hereby expressly set aside.
“Consequently, the 1st to 4th Respondents are hereby ordered either by themselves or the Assistant Inspector General of Police, Zone 2, Lagos State to forthwith unseal the property in dispute preserved to avoid its destruction. This is the judgment of this Court.”
Court orders police to unseal disputed Lekki property