Prince Abiola Kosoko, the Oloja-elect of Lagos, has filed a fundamental rights suit against the Oba of Lagos, and senior officers of the Nigeria Police Force before a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos.

The suit, underscores an escalating dispute over land ownership in the Ogombo area of Eti-Osa Local Government, as well as succession to the prestigious Oloja of Lagos chieftaincy title, traditionally reserved for the Kosoko Royal Family.

The respondents include: Inspector General of Police, IGP, Assistant Inspector General of Police, Zone 2, Onikan, Lagos, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Bello Muhammed, Mariam Ogunmolasuyi, Inspector Ebere, Oba of Lagos, and Olumegbon Ajah Chieftaincy Family Property & Investments Ltd, a subsidiary of the Olumegbon royal family.

The defendants are yet to file their defence, while no date has been fixed for the hearing of the suit.

Kosoko is asking the court for “A declaration enforcing his fundamental human rights, particularly protection from harassment, intimidation, and unlawful arrest.

“An order restraining the police and the Oba of Lagos from further interference with his family’s land at Ogombo.”

Prince Kosoko, in an affidavit in support of the suit said he is a direct descendant of King Kosoko, a historic warrior-king whose reign shaped the political and territorial history of Lagos.

Prince Kosoko alleged that law enforcement agencies, acting on orders arrested workers on Kosoko family land at Ogombo, detain them in inhumane conditions, and file criminal charges over what is fundamentally a civil dispute.

The applicant noted that a Lagos High Court had, in Suit No. LD/12881LMW/2022, delivered judgment in favour of the Kosoko family, recognizing their ownership of 114.476 hectares of land at Ogombo as the consent judgment, delivered on November 12, 2024, by Justice O. Ogunjobi, settled the ownership dispute in favour of the family.

Kosoko stated, “Ownership of land is a purely civil matter and not criminal in nature. The 6th respondent has the right to appeal the judgment of the High Court, which he has failed to do.

“Instead, Police and government agencies are being used to intimidate me and collect my family land,” the affidavit reads.

The applicant highlighted that his family had previously instituted another suit, FHC/L/CS/308/2025, before Justice Aluko of the Federal High Court, against the Inspector General of Police and others, over similar police harassment.

Kosoko further claimed that the real aim of these actions were not only to seize the Ogombo land but also to strip his family of its traditional claim to the Oloja of Lagos title, which has historically belonged to the Kosoko lineage.

Tracing his lineage, the Oloja-elect recounted that his ancestor, King Kosoko, acquired vast lands stretching from Lagos Island to Epe through warfare and conquest, with an addition that a September 28, 1854, treaty reportedly recognised Kosoko’s territorial claims, and a subsequent 1863 treaty ceded Lekki and Porto Novo outposts to the British colony of Lagos.

He argued that the Ogombo lands form part of this ancestral estate, and that any contrary claim, including that of the Olumegbon family through their investment company, is legally invalid, given the unchallenged 2024 High Court judgment. (Vanguard)