In a landmark ruling yesterday, the Lagos Division of the Court of Appeal overturned a 2013 Federal High Court judgment in the case of RCN Networks Ltd v. Guaranty Trust Bank PLC (CA/L/888/2014), effectively restoring ownership of a 44-room mansion valued at ₦30 billion to Alhaji Agboola Abiola, son of the late June 12, 1993, presidential election winner, Bashorun M.K.O. Abiola.
The Federal High Court’s original decision had led to what the Appellate Court described as the “unlawful foreclosure” of the property by Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank). In its unanimous judgment, the three-member panel held that the trial court “ignored glaring discrepancies on the execution page” of a tripartite legal mortgage registered against the mansion at the Lagos State Land Registry.
Among the defects noted by the Appeal Court was that the mortgage document was never signed by Alhaji Abiola, the alleged mortgagor. The court also highlighted that its footer contained “handwritten alterations not present on other pages,” which the Appellant had argued pointed to outright forgery by GTBank. These deficiencies, the court concluded, rendered the mortgage “so deficient that it was incapable of conferring on the said bank any legal rights to foreclose on the property.”
Upon establishing these facts, the Court of Appeal discharged all charges and encumbrances that GTBank had levied on the property in favour of RCN Networks Ltd. Dr. Charles Adeogun-Phillips, SAN, appeared for the Appellant, while Mr. Norrison Quakers, SAN, represented GTBank.
The decision not only vindicates the Abiola family’s claims but also sets a significant precedent on the strict requirements for mortgage documentation and execution in Nigeria’s land registration system.
The article was originally published on Politics Nigeria.
