Two groups: De Renaissance Patriots Foundation and Ibeju-Lekki Peoples Forum, have dragged the Lagos State Government to court over the statement by eminent businessman, Aliko Dangote, that he paid $100 million to acquire the land for his Dangote Refinery and Petrochemicals Company.
According to available court records, the government was dragged before the Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos State.
De Renaissance Patriots Foundation and Ibeju-Lekki Peoples Forum are seeking for an order of the court for the Lagos State Government to be compelled to release information on whether or not Dangote paid $100 million for the acquisition of the land.
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The position of the groups was contained in an originating motion, brought under Section 39 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended; Sections 1, 3, 4, 7, 20 and 24 of the Freedom of Information Act, 2011; and Inherent jurisdiction of the Honourable Court in the matter of application by De Renaissance Patriots Foundation and Ibeju-Lekki Peoples Forum, who are the Applicants, joining Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Attorney General of Lagos State, Accountant General of Lagos State, Permanent Secretary of Lands Bureau of Lagos State and Lagos State Government, who are the Respondents.
The motion, filed and registered by the court with Suit Number: FHC/L/CS/1603/2024, on at 1:20pm on 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 after the filing of the motion on Friday, lead counsel to the applicants, Yakubu Eleto, 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 affected resident/host communities compensated.
Eleto 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 after, that Dangote cried out saying the land he used to build his refinery was not for free, but that he paid $100 million for it.
He said the people of the area have suffered neglect for the past nine years only for them to now hear from Dangote that he paid $100 million for the same land they were not compensated for.
Eleto added: “Out of the fact that they don’t have money, they pay a lot to give themselves energy and it is now sounded to their ears to hear 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, was yet to be assigned to a judge because it was filed on a Friday, explaining that cases in Federal High Courts are assigned Tuesdays and Thursdays.
He added: “By Tuesday, September 10, it is going to be assigned to a judge.”
