The 15 years old legal battle by the Guaranty Trust Bank PLC on ownership of 30 Billion Naira 44- room mansion located at the eye brows Queens Drive in Lagos has been resolved in favour of one Agboola, the son of winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential elections, Bashorun M.K.O Abiola.
The Court of Appeal in a judgment resolved the major issues in respect of the edifice in favour of the appellant.
A Federal High Court had in 2013 delivered a judgment in favour of the bank which put the ownership of the structure on the bank.
However, the Court of Appeal has overturned the 2013 judgment of the High Court in the matter between RCN Networks Ltd and the Bank which previously resulted in the unlawful foreclosure by GTB of the 30 Billion Naira 44- room mansion owned by Agboola Abiola, the son of winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential elections, Bashorun M.K.O Abiola.
In a unanimous judgment in an appeal number CA/L/888/2014, the Court held that the trial court had ignored glaring discrepancies on the execution page of a tripartite legal mortgage registered by the bank at the Land Registry of Lagos State against the said property.
The Court of Appeal found that the said discrepancies made the tripartite legal mortgage document so deficient that it was incapable of conferring on the said bank, any legal rights to foreclose on the property.
The appellate court further found that discrepancies on the document included the fact that it was unsigned by alleged mortgagor Alhaji Abiola and that the footer therein contained handwritten alterations not present on other pages of the document and which the Appellant had alleged in the case was indicative of the fact that document had actually been forged by the bank.
Consequently, the court discharged all legal charges levied on the property by GT Bank in favour of the Appellant.
The Appellant was represented by Dr. Charles Adeogun-Phillips, SAN, while the Respondent was represented by Mr. Norrison Quakers, SAN.