Justice Adewunmi Oshin of the Lagos High Court has restrained the Lagos State government from taking over and demolishing the two remaining high-rise buildings by Fourscore Heights Limited.
Recall on November 1, 2021, a 21-storey high-rise building on Gerrard Road, Ikoyi, Lagos State collapsed killing 46 persons while 15 persons were rescued alive.
Ruling on an ex-parte application brought by 15 subscribers of the building, the judge ordered all parties in the suit to maintain status quo pending the hearing and determination of the substantive suit.
He also ordered the applicants to serve the court processes on all the defendants in the suit. He then adjourned the matter to September 29 for the hearing of the substantive matter.
What you should know
Fifteen subscribers of the three high-rise buildings at 44BCD had instituted a suit against the Lagos State government over the collapse of one of the buildings.
- The suit was filed on their behalf by their lawyer, A.U. Mustapha (SAN) on August 12, 2022, with suit no: LD/3962LM/22,
- Defendants in the suits include: The Lagos State government, the Attorney-General of Lagos, the state ministry of physical planning and urban development, the Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA) and Edge of Design Limited.
- They sought among other reliefs, “an order restraining the defendants from trespassing or further trespassing, demolishing or further demolishing the properties known as Tower 2 and Tower 3 until an independent audit of the property is carried out by the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN).
- They also sought “An order of perpetual injunction restraining the defendants from disturbing, interfering with, taking, receiving or in any way taking possession of, demolishing, divesting and/or revoking the title, disposing of all or any part of the property, landed or otherwise.
- They are seeking general damages of N200 million and another N50 million as the cost of filing the suit.
- They argued that the Lagos State government failed to supervise the collapsed building in line with regulation claiming that they had invested over N15 billion in the property.
- They sought the court to, “Declare that the first to fourth defendants were negligent in the performance of their duties by failing and/or neglecting to supervise the construction of one of the three towers.
- They are also urging the court to “Declare that the agreements between Fourscore Heights Limited and each of them to acquire units of flats, with agreed considerations paid, entitle them to equitable rights and interests in the other two towers.
- They maintained that the first to fourth defendants cannot benefit from their negligence by compulsorily, wrongfully, illegally, and punitively acquiring or threatening to acquire the property at 44BCD through forfeiture and/or purported forfeiture to the Lagos State government following the collapse of one of the towers.
- The claimants further asked the court to hold that “Any demolition of the two other towers when independent evidence of unfavorable non-destructive test results has not been produced will adversely affect their equitable interests in the said properties.”
In case you missed it
- Recall that in the aftermath of the Ikoyi building collapse tragedy in which about 45 people were killed including the developer, Femi Osibona, and 9 people rescued, a visibly angry Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, admitted that mistakes were made from all angles and promised that sanctions will be meted out.
- The governor immediately after the tragic incident, set up an independent panel to probe the circumstances surrounding the collapse of the building. The panel which is not part of the internal probe that was conducted by the state government, was mandated to investigate the remote and immediate causes of the incident and make recommendations on how to prevent future occurrences.
- The Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA), had during a coroner’s inquest on the circumstances that led to the collapse of the 21-storey building said that the construction of the 3 high-rise buildings at Gerrard Road, Ikoyi, Lagos commenced before provisional approval was granted.
- The Lagos State government had earlier in February announced that it will carry out criminal prosecution of Fourscore Homes Limited, the firm developing the 21-storey building that collapsed on Gerrard Road, Ikoyi, on November 1, 202, over the loss of lives that occurred during the tragedy.
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Lagos state too is complicit in the building collapse and deaths – their negligence in doing their job contributed to the collapse of that building – so they should be counter sued and in civil proceedings and joined as defendants in criminal proceedings
Also – they can’t repossess any property (for public good) without paying proper and adequate compensation.