The Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos has nullified the takeover of a multibillion-naira property belonging to Agboola Abiola, son of the late Chief MKO Abiola, by Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank), describing the foreclosure as unlawful and hinged on a forged legal mortgage document.
In a unanimous judgment delivered on Wednesday, the three-man appellate panel ruled that the 2014 decision of the Federal High Court, which had paved the way for GTBank to seize the 44-room Ikoyi mansion valued at N30 billion, was fundamentally flawed and could not stand.
The appeal, marked CA/L/888/2014, was filed by RCN Networks Ltd and Agboola Abiola, who challenged the foreclosure, alleging fraud in the documentation used by the bank to claim ownership of the property.
According to the appellants, while RCN Networks had obtained a loan from GTBank, the deed of tripartite legal mortgage used to secure the facility was fraudulently altered to include Abiola’s personal property.
Agboola specifically denied signing the mortgage document, claiming the page bearing his signature was surreptitiously lifted from an entirely different document and attached to the mortgage deed.
Justice Paul Bassi, delivering the lead judgment, faulted the lower court for failing to properly evaluate critical discrepancies in the documents submitted by GTBank to the Lagos State Land Registry.
“The lower court, for some reason, elected to gloss over the alleged alterations and amendments—even though these were also acknowledged by the police—and instead proceeded to interpret a clause in a disputed document,” Justice Bassi held.
He further stated that no court has the jurisdiction to adjudicate rights over a document clouded by allegations of forgery, stressing that such issues must be resolved before legal interpretations can be made.
“It is incumbent on the court to be satisfied that the deed or document sought to be interpreted is accepted by the parties as creating the rights and obligations in question,” he added.
The appellate court concluded that the deed of legal mortgage was defective and could not confer any foreclosure rights on the bank. As a result, it overturned the judgment of the Federal High Court delivered on June 20, 2014, in suit no: FHC/L/CS/876/2013.
Charles Adeogun-Phillips represented the appellants, while Norrison Quakers appeared for GTBank.
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