A Lagos-based real estate development company, Skyview Property, has dismissed as blackmail the claims by Alhaji Akeem Osuolale Ogunseye that he has a right to a property at Plot 37, Lekki Phase 1, Lekki Peninsula Scheme 1, Lagos, on the strength of a Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) issued in the name of Samuel Alao Ajibode.
In a statement by Mr Daniel Itua, the company said it bought the property in 2008 from the then owner, who had acquired it from Ajibode and held the C of O and a Deed of Conveyance executed by Ajibode in his favour.
Skyview said a subsisting judgement of the Lagos High Court declared it the rightful owner.
It added that the matter had nothing to do with Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) Olohundare Moshood Jimoh, who, as Lagos Commissioner of Police, only intervened to restore peace and ensure that both parties awaited the decision of the court.
“The recent campaign of blackmail against AIG Jimoh and Skyview is a mere attempt to whip up public sentiment by a person who has no right in law and in fact to the property but has resorted to self-help and violence to scare our workers from the property. We will not succumb to the blackmail,” the company said.
It said when Ogunseye and his men attacked its workers, it reported to the then Commissioner of Police, Jimoh, who directed that both parties await judgement since the matter was in court and the police could not act on a sub judice matter.
According to the company, it returned to the site to begin development only after Justice K. A. Jose’s judgement of June 30, 2025, which issued “an order of perpetual injunction restraining the first Defendant, his agents and privies from further trespassing on the property situate at Plot 37, Block 77, Lekki Peninsula Scheme 1, Lekki, Lagos and from further harassing the claimant”.
Skyview described Ogunseye as an agent of Ajibode and said their claim of a pending appeal was immaterial, as they have no order of stay of execution to stop it from executing its plan approved by the Lagos State Ministry of Physical Planning and Development.
The company alleged that Ajibode, an architect, had fled to the United States after using Ogunseye to press the claims. It said Ajibode sold the land in 1992 to an individual, to whom he handed over his C of O and a Deed of Conveyance, and that Skyview later bought from that individual and paid adequate consideration. It added that it also paid Ajibode to execute another Deed of Conveyance in its favour.
Skyview claimed that Ajibode returned long after the transaction with a N50 million demand, which it regarded as extortion. It said Ogunseye emerged after it rejected the demand, mobilising people to enter the property by force, but they were resisted.
The company said it chose to go to court and petition the Commissioner of Police rather than resort to self-help. It stressed that no court order restrains it or contradicts the High Court judgement.
It urged the press to verify facts before publishing the claims of people it said were subverting the rule of law while presenting themselves as victims.
