The respondents in the case, which is yet to be assigned to a judge, are the Inspector General of Police, the Assistant Inspector General of Police for Zone 2, and the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Bello Muhammed).
Others are CSP Mariam Ogunmolasuyi, Inspector Ebere, HRM Oba Rilwan Akiolu, the Oba of Lagos, and Olumegbon Ajah Chieftaincy Family Property & Investments Ltd., a subsidiary of the Olumegbon royal family.
In an affidavit attached to the suit, Prince Kosoko (applicant) accused Oba Akiolu of abusing his position as the paramount ruler of Lagos and as a retired senior police officer to intimidate and destabilise his family through repeated police actions.
He claimed that as the Oloja-elect of Lagos, he is a direct descendant of King Kosoko, a historic warrior-king whose reign was pivotal in shaping Lagos’ political and territorial history.
The applicant alleged that Oba Akiolu, leveraging his influence within the police hierarchy, has used law enforcement officers to arrest workers on Kosoko family land in Ogombo, subjecting them to inhumane treatment and establishing criminal charges in what he contends is fundamentally a civil dispute.
He averred that a Lagos High Court, in Suit No. LD/12881LMW/2022, ruled in favour of the Kosoko family, affirming their ownership of 114.476 hectares of land at Ogombo.
Prince Kosoko claimed that the consent judgment, which was delivered on November 12, 2024, by Justice Olukayode Ogunjobi resolved the ownership dispute in the family’s favour.
Despite this, the applicant alleged that Oba Akiolu has continued to initiate police interventions on the land instead of appealing to the judgment in the Court of Appeal.
Kosoko contends that the Ogombo lands are part of this ancestral estate and asserts that any competing claims, including those from the Olumegbon family through their investment company, are legally invalid, given the unchallenged 2024 High Court judgment.
He argues that “ownership of land is a purely civil matter and not criminal in nature. The 6th Respondent (Oba Akiolu) has the right to appeal the judgment of the High Court, which he has failed to do. Instead, he is using the police and government agencies to intimidate me and seize my family land,” according to the affidavit.
Kosoko also highlights that his family filed another suit (FHC/L/CS/308/2025) against the Inspector General of Police and others regarding similar police harassment.
He further claims that the underlying motive of these actions is to seize the Ogombo land and undermine his family’s traditional claim to the Oloja of Lagos title, which historically belongs to the Kosoko lineage.
In tracing his lineage, the Oloja-elect recalls that his ancestor, King Kosoko, acquired extensive lands from Lagos Island to Epe through warfare and conquest. He notes that a treaty signed on September 28, 1854, acknowledged Kosoko’s territorial claims, and a subsequent treaty in 1863 ceded the Lekki and Porto Novo outposts to the British colony of Lagos.
Kosoko contends that the Ogombo lands are part of this ancestral estate and asserts that any competing claims, including those from the Olumegbon family through their investment company, are legally invalid, given the unchallenged 2024 High Court judgment.
The affidavit includes claims of direct threats allegedly made by the Oba of Lagos. Prince Kosoko states that Oba Akiolu has confidently asserted his ability to use his influence as the paramount ruler and former police chief to “relegate me and my family to the background.” He further alleges that the monarch has vowed to ensure that he loses the Ogombo land and his right to succeed as Oloja of Lagos.
“The 6th Respondent has been heard to boast that, aside from being the Paramount Traditional Ruler of Lagos, he also functions as a senior member of the 2nd Respondent, and that there is nothing he wants from the 1st and 2nd Respondents that they would not do for him,” the applicant attests.
As of this report, no date has been set for the suit’s hearing.
