An octogenarian gynecologist, Dr. Albert Ndulue engages NICON Trustees in battle for the ownership of a piece of land situated at Alma Beach Estate, Ikate, Lagos.
The 84-year-old surgeon had recently cried out to the public over an alleged move by NICON Trustees Limited to take over his landed property. He accused the company of demolishing his property, on account of which he is seeking N1 billion as compensation.
Among other allegations, Ndulue also said he had been subjected to all manner of mental torture, trauma and injustice as a result of the unending onslaught against his property at Plot 8, Block 24, Alma Estate, Lekki, Eti-Osa, Lagos.
But the Receiver Managers of NICON Trustees Limited, Abah Onah, faulted Ndulue’s claims, describing it as “blatant falsehood, lies, malicious propaganda and blackmail by an 84- year old against NICON Trustees and the Nigeria Police to supplant valid court judgments.”
In the statement titled: ‘Re: Demolition of Property by NICON Trustees, Onah said rather than tell the true story, the 84-year-old went on an expedition of twisted narratives, blackmail, and propaganda to justify his continued defiance of the judgments of courts.
Reacting to Ndulue’s claim that he acquired the disputed property in 1991, Onah insisted that there was nothing genuine about Dr. Ndulue’s claim. Rather, he said, the octogenarian started laying claim to the land through what he described as a “phony arrangement vide an invalid Deed of Assignment entered between him and a debtor company, Alma Beach Estate Limited, dated 5th March 2006 and a purported survey plan dated 18th October 2006, long after the Receiver had taken over the charged assets in 2002.
“I challenge Dr Ndulue to produce any document entitling him to the land prior to 2002 when the assets crystallized, Onah said.
The NiCON Trustees receiver manager said it was not until between 2003 and 2016 that Dr Ndulue began to lay claim to the charged assets when their predecessor in the title – the debtor company – held down the Receivership in litigation for 13 years by court “action which was eventually resolved in favour of the Receiver in Appeal No. CA/L/365/2004 in 2016”.
Onah said Dr. Ndulue would rather not mention such a landmark judgment because it would puncture his “sickening lies”.
Armed with the said Court of Appeal judgment, the Receiver got a Federal High Court Order in 2017 in suit FHC/ CS/L/1242/2017 which was executed and the entire charged plots of land including the piece being claimed by Dr. Ndulue was recovered by the Deputy Sheriff of the Federal High Court on November 13th, 2017 and the “Receiver was put in possession.
“The Certificate of Execution of 13/11/2017 is attached as Annexure 3. It is important to state here that on 13th November 2017 when the land was handed to me, the Receiver, it was vacant land without any development thereon.*
Onah wondered why the octogenarian did not tell the public that he challenged the takeover by the Receiver in court and lost the challenge by a ruling dated 9th January 2018 in Suit No. FHC/ CS/L/1242/2017.
Onah also faulted Ndulue for not disclosing to the public that after this particular parcel of land was sold by the Receiver and the owner/purchaser had built a one-story building on the land, “himself and his son went with thugs to attack the building in the dead of the night in 2019 and demolished the completed one-story structure.”
According to Onah, in an attempt to get the land, Ndulue filed a suit at the High Court in Suit No. LD/2767/GCMW/2018 against the Receiver for declaration of title.
“How convenient was it to forget to mention this? This matter raged in court for five years within which Dr Ndulue found confidence to grab the asset and began to deal adversely with it.
“Again, under the law, in 2023, the court ruled against Dr. Albert Ndulue. Attached herewith is the judgment. The law is trite that the owner of the land is the owner of everything on it.”
Our correspondent gathered that while the face-off was ongoing, the matter was brought before the Inspector General of Police (IGP), who ordered an investigation into the activities of Dr Ndulue and others.
“The interim report returned an indictment of fraud, trespass, and violence,” claimed Onah.
He added: “Dr Albert Ndulue continued to use imported armed men to attack the assigned owner of the land. This caused the Assignee to go to court against Ndulue and the Receiver.
“Interim and interlocutory injunctions were issued against Dr Albert Ndulue, but because he had no regard for the law, he continued his attacks on the owner.
“With countless allegations and investigative reports on him, the legal department of Zone 2 Police Command concluded to charge him and his lawyer in court.
“On getting a whiff of this, they began to blackmail the AIG, Zone 2, calling him and everyone names.
“As we write this, the Police are on his trail to bring him and his cohorts to book
Onah therefore said rather than whipping up public sentiment, Ndulue should “ventilate his claim in court and claim damages and be at liberty to appeal all the Judgments of the various courts against him and refrain from maligning the Receiver and the Nigeria Police in the media.
However, while NICON Trustees continued to fault the claims of the octogenarian, Ndulue insisted that he would pursue his case to the logical conclusion.
Speaking to The Nation, he insisted that the piece of land belonged to him.
When our correspondent confronted him with the claims of NICON Trustees, he said: “I don’t know whether it is false that the Alma Beach in 1991 advertised that they got a big plot of land from the Elegushi Family and they were going to build an estate there, and they invited people to apply for different estates. Is that false?
“I saw the advert and I went to the office to make sure that the company exists, that Alma Beach exists, and I found out that they existed and I indicated that I was interested in buying a plot. I paid N750,000 for the plot and eventually, they gave me a plot.”
According to Ndulue, he thought everything was okay until 1996 when he wanted to perfect the title of the plot.
“I went to them, and they said Alma Beach had been taken over by Babalakin, and Babalakin was the person that would give me the document with which I would go to Lagos State to perfect the title,” he said.
He added, however, that he never bargained for what confronted him when he got to Babalakin, whom he said he had never met before.
He said: “I didn’t know him before, but the way he behaved to me was funny. He didn’t know me, but Alma Beach said to me that they gave him my name as one of the first people who paid for the plot; and that they should cooperate with me by signing Form 1C for me.
“But he said he would give me N2 million. I said I’m not asking you for money; give me my document, let me go and perfect the title with the Lagos State Government.”
He said that when his request was not acceded to, he asked his lawyer to go to court since he had the document to back up his claim.
“I have all the documents with which I paid and all that. I went to court eventually. We were in court for five years. Fortunately, Justice Ojikutu looked at the document I got from Alma Beach and said they should give me my plot and documents.
“This thing I’m telling you was written as a consent judgment. I got this land by the consent judgment of the court. I went on to apply to Lagos State and paid quite a lot of money.
“In 2011, they gave me my Governor’s Consent. All this time, I never heard about NICON Trustees. Never. I didn’t know that the company existed.
“After I had perfected my document, I went on to draw a building plan. The building plan was approved by the Lagos State Government in 2014. I went and built a compound wall on the plot. Nobody talked to me, nobody showed up.
“After I had walled it around, I started preparing to build, because one thing about the plot of land, if you don’t take physical presence somebody else can go and build and you will be in trouble.”
Thinking that everything was settled, he said in 2017, he mobilised a contractor from Anambra State and was getting ready to build where the workers were going to stay. Unfortunately, another round of trouble reared its head. On his gate was placed an interim order claiming that the land belongs to NICON Trustees.
“It never made a hell of sense to me. I know there is NICON Insurance; I didn’t know about NICON Trustees even though I was a doctor at NICON Insurance. I never saw anyone from NICON Trustees, I never knew it existed.
“I asked my lawyer to go and find out for me about NICON Trustees and the interim order of Justice Obiozor. He found out and it was reported to me that there was an interim order; that they were in court.
“I said go and find out the court and the case; I want to join because my plot is said to be part of the order. While I was trying to join the suit, that interim order was dismissed.
“Whosoever told you that I was telling lies, ask him whether an interim order was not dismissed by Justice Faji. Of course an interim order was dismissed. NICON Trustees went on appeal, and the Appeal Court upheld the judgment of Justice Faji and went ahead to throw out the interim order.
“I thought it was all over and continued with the arrangement to start building, but another set of harassment began. They said that they lent money to Alma Beach, N40 million, and Alma Beach said if they were not able to pay, they should take 150 plots of the 2,200 plots they had in Alma Beach; that my own plot was one of the plots they said they should take.”
The octogenarian wondered why he should pay for sins he knew nothing about. Hence he decided to seek another legal reprieve to stop NICON Trustees from trespassing on his land.
“I challenged them to come to the court and show them their title document, and I would also bring my title document and show the judge. If he says my own title document is fake, they can take the land. That was all.
“I said stop trespassing on my land and going to steal materials I use in building. Bring your title document to the court, I will bring mine, and let the judge as a neutral somebody look at these title documents and say which one of them is correct. If your own is correct, I will leave the land for you. What am I looking for? I already have a house I’m living in.
“But do you know the answer? I went to court in 2018. Do you know what they have been arguing upon since 2018? They said I have a preliminary objection to my suit. And what is the preliminary objection? That I have no right to sue and that the court has no right to hear it because I’m not part of the debenture. That is what they have been arguing on since 2018.
So what is the way out of this crisis?
The octogenarian is seeking to know who ordered the demolition of his house. “They should give me the reason for the permission they gave them to demolish my house,” Ndulue said.
He disclosed that two days before his house was demolished, policemen were sent to arrest his workers and security at the site. “They arrested my security men, scared them and told them that they should never be found on that plot again.”
Contrary to the claim that policemen are looking for him, he said he had visited the police not just once, saying the argument does not hold water.
“When I went to Zone 2, the AIG there didn’t give me an audience. He walked me out. The AIG was so hostile. But due to the intervention of someone, he decided to listen to us. When he listened and found the kind of people they are, he stopped listening to them a bit.
“Later, the case was transferred to Alagbon. Again they went and arrested my security men, beat them up. They beat them into a pulp and took them to Alagbon Close. I went there and bailed them, and they continued demolishing,” he said.
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