The Lagos State Government has been dragged before the Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos, to be compelled to release information about whether or not Aliko Dangote’s recent claim that he paid $100 million to it is true or false.
If the claim is true, it is required to give a detailed account of how such a huge amount of money in hard currency was collected in exchange for the poor Ibeju-Lekki people’s land, why there was no public statement to that effect, and to state which account the money was paid into and what it was used for.
This was contained in an originating motion brought under 1. Section 39 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, as amended; 2. Sections 1, 3, 4, 7, 20, and 24 of the Freedom of Information Act 2011; and 3. Inherent jurisdiction of the Honourable Court in the matter of the application by 1. De Renaissance Patriots Foundation and 2. Ibeju-Lekki Peoples Forum, who are the applicants, joining 1. Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, 2. Attorney General of Lagos State, 3. Accountant General of Lagos State, 4. Permanent Secretary, Lands Bureau, Lagos State, and 5. Lagos State Government, who are the respondents.
The motion, filed and registered by the court with Suit no FHC/L/CS/1603/2024 at 1:20 pm on Friday, September 6, 2024, is seeking the court for an Order of Mandamus to be issued against the respondents, with a view to compelling the Lagos State Government to release the information required by the applicants.
Speaking immediately after the filing of the motion on Friday, lead counsel to the applicants, Barrister Yakubu Eleto Esq, said the entire livelihood of the people of Ibeju-Lekki was destroyed by the mere fact of the siting of the Dangote Refinery without any compensation to the affected residents or host communities.
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He said, “Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN), as sitting governor in 2015, using a public address, said that they brought Dangote to Ibeju-Lekki in good faith to assist governance, to assist the Lagos State economy, that they gave him the land for free, and that he didn’t pay anything for it.”
He said that was what the Lagos State government at the time used to cajole the people until recently, nine years later, when Dangote revealed that the land he used to build his refinery was not free, but that he paid $100 million for it.
Eleto said the people of the area have suffered neglect for the past nine years, only to now hear from Dangote that he paid $100 million for the same land they were not compensated for. “Out of the fact that they don’t have money, they pay a lot to give themselves energy, and now it is brought to their ears that about $100 million was collected in exchange for their land and some individuals sit on that money. We want to know where that money is.”
The case, according to Eleto, has yet to be assigned to a judge, as it was filed on Friday (September 6, 2024), whereas cases in the Federal High Court are assigned on Tuesdays and Thursdays. “By Tuesday, September 10, it is going to be assigned to a judge.”
