Court Restrains FG from Demolishing Banana Island Boat ClubHouse

Bennett Oghifo and Wale Igbintade

A federal high court sitting in Lagos has given an interim injunction restraining the Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, their servants, agents, privies, from demolishing a property owned by the residents of Banana Island, Lagos.

Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke granted the order in Suit No: FHC/L/CS/470/25 following a motion filed by the Incorporated Trustees of the Banana Island Property Owners/Residents Association.

The application was moved by their counsel, O. Adejuyigbe, SAN.

Other plaintiffs in the suit include Olusola Oladunjoye, Chief Ugo Nnabuife, and Babatunde Odunewu (suing on behalf of all property owners and residents of Banana Island).

The ministry wants to demolish the estate’s Boat ClubHouse situated at OT QC in Banana Island, Ikoyi, Lagos for the construction of an access road to an upcoming estate to be known as Apple Island.

Justice Aneke, after considering the submissions, ordered all parties to maintain the status quo until the court decides on the pending motion for an interlocutory injunction.

The court injunction is coming from a Matter which the Incorporated Trustees of Banana Island Property Owners/Residents Association instituted against the Attorney-General of the Federation, Minister of Housing and Urban Development and Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, praying the court to stop them from carrying out the demolition of the property.

The court, upon reading through the Motion, it’s Affidavit of 25 paragraphs deposed to by Chief Ugo Nnabuife, Nigerian Citizen and a Legal Practitioner of P35, 219 Close, Banana Island, Ikoyi Lagos State with attached exhibits and a written address signed by Okechukwu Tagboo Dike Esq, all filed at the Court Registry Ikoyi, Lagos, ordered the defendants to stay action.

The order restrains the AGF, the minister, the ministry, their servants, agents or privies from taking any action in respect of the Plaintiffs’ Boat ClubHouse, as stated in their letter of 28/02/2025, pending the determination of the motion on notice.

The court also issued an interim order that the status quo in respect of the Plaintiffs’ Boat ClubHouse, as at the date this action was instituted, be maintained by parties to this suit, pending the determination of the motion on notice.

The court, after hearing O. Adejuyigbe (SAN) with M. O. Afolabi Esq, Counsel for the Plaintiff/Applicant, and having carefully considered the application and submissions of the counsel, also ordered that the status quo in respect of the Plaintiffs’ Boat CIubHouse be maintained by the parties, pending the determination of the motion on notice.

The residents of the estate said they were rattled that, despite these court orders and interim injunctions, officials of the federal ministry of housing and urban development still invaded the estate Tuesday morning to demolish the Boat ClubHouse.

“You needed to be here early enough to see the harassment and intimidation which these officials subjected our residents to this morning,” a resident of the estate who did not want his name mentioned, told our reporter who was at the estate on Tuesday.

He is concerned that court orders were no longer respected, especially by government and its agencies.

“This matter is in court and there is an interim injunction restraining these people from demolishing our property, yet they were here in their numbers to carry out the demolition,” he told journalists.