The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has dismissed a right-of-occupancy case involving an Abuja property measuring 2.8 hectares, faulting Triples G. Investment Limited’s legal team for attempting to “tie the hands of the trial court” by filing a “frivolous appeal”.
Justice Okon Abang read the leading judgment of the three-man panel of the Court of Appeal on Tuesday.
The verdict arose from a pending dispute before the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory concerning the alleged ownership of Plot 1851 within Sabon Lugbe, Abuja, measuring approximately 2.8 hectares.
The appeal was filed by Triples G. Investment Limited against Olabode Olaleri and another in an appeal marked CA/ABJ/CV/1261/2024.
The Court observed that the lower court was yet to make a “final decision” on the matter, yet the appellant’s legal team made an “indecent haste” to appeal.
The jurist also maintained that the appellant required leave of the trial court, sought and obtained within 14 days, to file a valid appeal.
The judge faulted the appellant for misleading the Appeal Court into amending an incompetent notice of appeal.
The judge held that the original notice of appeal was incompetent and could not be amended.
Going into the merits of the case, the Court of Appeal described the appeal as an abuse of the process of the court.
The court considered the appellant’s reliance on res judicata and estoppel in relation to the disputed property.
He consequently dismissed the appeal, describing it as a reckless application.
As revealed by the court, the appellant, on February 27, 2024, challenged the competence of the respondents’ counterclaim by filing a preliminary objection challenging the court’s jurisdiction to entertain the counterclaim.
The legal team of Triples G. had argued that the issue of ownership and title to the disputed plot had allegedly been settled in favour of the appellant in an earlier case filed by the appellant against the FCT Minister and the FCDA.
Those claims were denied by the respondents.
In its ruling, the trial court also held that there was nothing in the judgment relied upon by the appellant indicating that the appellant was the owner of the said plot.
The development adds to the list of court interventions in property disputes in the nation’s capital.
In August 2026, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, confirmed that the age-long dispute over the development of River Park Estate in Lugbe, Abuja, had entered the international arbitration stage.
