In a major legal victory, Alhaji Agboola Abiola, son of the late M.K.O. Abiola, has reclaimed ownership of a ₦30 billion mansion located on Queens’ Drive, Ikoyi, Lagos, following a landmark judgment by the Court of Appeal in Lagos.
The appellate court, in a ruling delivered on Thursday, overturned a 2013 decision by the Federal High Court that had allowed Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank) to foreclose on the property. The case, RCN Networks Ltd v. GTBank PLC (CA/L/888/2014), centered on the bank’s claim to the 44-room mansion, which the Court of Appeal described as the subject of an “unlawful foreclosure.”
Court Exposes Flaws in Mortgage Document
The three-member panel of the Court of Appeal found critical flaws in the mortgage document that GTBank relied on to seize the property. The court highlighted that the mortgage was never signed by Alhaji Abiola, the alleged mortgagor, and contained “handwritten alterations not present on other pages.”
According to the judgment, these discrepancies strongly supported claims of forgery and invalidated the legal basis for the foreclosure. The court concluded that the mortgage was “so deficient that it was incapable of conferring on the said bank any legal rights to foreclose on the property.”
Implications for Mortgage and Foreclosure Cases in Nigeria
Legal experts say the judgment sets a strong precedent on the importance of verifying the authenticity and integrity of mortgage documents in foreclosure disputes. The case also underscores the Nigerian judiciary’s increasing vigilance in protecting property rights and curbing alleged abuses by financial institutions.
What This Means for Alhaji Agboola Abiola
For Abiola’s son, the ruling restores ownership of the prestigious Ikoyi mansion, a property estimated to be worth over ₦30 billion. The mansion, situated on one of Lagos’s most sought-after addresses, was at the center of the protracted legal battle for more than a decade.
