{"id":872,"date":"2026-07-12T16:47:49","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T15:47:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/?p=872"},"modified":"2026-07-12T16:47:50","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T15:47:50","slug":"court-declares-murray-owner-of-disputed-abraka-land-awards-%e2%82%a62-million-damages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/?p=872","title":{"rendered":"Court Declares Murray Owner of Disputed Abraka Land, Awards \u20a62 Million Damages"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Peter Tejiri<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The High Court of Justice, Delta State, sitting in the Abraka Judicial Division, has declared Mr. Akusu Onomine Murray the lawful owner of a disputed parcel of land at Ofremu Dafe Quarters, Abraka, and awarded him \u20a62 million in general damages for trespass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The judgment was delivered on April 21, 2026, by Justice Samuel I. Okeleke in Suit No. HCA\/18\/2022 between Mr. Akusu Onomine Murray and Chief Blessing A. Ojarikre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The court held that the claimant had established ownership of the land, measuring approximately 200 feet by 100 feet (1,852.680 square metres) and covered by Survey Plan No. DT\/SC\/975\/0243\/2012, through credible oral and documentary evidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to court records, Murray filed the suit on May 23, 2022, seeking a declaration of title to the land, a perpetual injunction restraining the defendant from interfering with the property, a refund of \u20a6250,000 allegedly paid for moulding blocks, \u20a610 million in damages for trespass, and other reliefs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

READ ALSO:<\/strong> Bike Rider, Driver Clash Over Passenger Seat Dispute at Abraka Motor Park<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The court noted that although the defendant was duly served with the originating processes and subsequent hearing notices, he neither entered an appearance nor filed a defence throughout the proceedings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Giving evidence before the court, Murray testified that he purchased the land from the defendant on May 2, 2012, for \u20a61.5 million, in which the transaction was documented with a Deed of Conveyance and Survey Plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He further told the court that in 2018, he paid the defendant an additional \u20a6250,000 to mould blocks for fencing the property, but the work was never carried out and the money was not refunded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the claimant, he discovered in August 2021 that an unauthorised building was being erected on the land, after a solicitor’s demand letter received no response, he instituted legal action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

READ ALSO:<\/strong> Vozinha\u2019s Mother Gets US Visa To Watch Son\u2019s World Cup Match<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To support his claims, the claimant tendered a Deed of Conveyance, a Survey Plan, photographs of the disputed property, a solicitor’s letter, a UBA statement of account, and a Certificate of Compliance, all of which were admitted in evidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his judgment, Justice Okeleke held that while declaratory reliefs cannot be granted merely because a defendant fails to defend a case, the claimant successfully proved his case on the strength of his own evidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The court found that the Deed of Conveyance and Survey Plan established the claimant’s title to the land, while the photographs tendered before the court proved acts of trespass, it also held that the claimant established payment of the \u20a6250,000 for moulding blocks through documentary evidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consequently, the court declared Murray the lawful owner of the disputed property and granted a perpetual injunction, restraining the defendant, his agents, servants, and privies from interfering with the claimant’s possession of the land.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

READ ALSO:<\/strong> Court Declares Claimant Lawful Owner, Orders Demolition of Building in Land Dispute<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Justice Okeleke also ordered the defendant to refund the \u20a6250,000 paid for moulding blocks and awarded the claimant \u20a62 million as general damages for trespass. No order was made as to costs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Peter Tejiri The High Court of Justice, Delta State, sitting in the Abraka Judicial Division, has declared Mr. Akusu Onomine Murray the lawful owner of a disputed parcel of land at Ofremu Dafe Quarters, Abraka, and awarded him \u20a62 million in general damages for trespass. The judgment was delivered on April 21, 2026, by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":874,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"iawp_total_views":2,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,14],"tags":[31,218,219,140],"class_list":["post-872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-abrakametro","category-trendingnews","tag-abraka","tag-court","tag-judiciary-matters","tag-law"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=872"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":875,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872\/revisions\/875"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}