A High Court in Lafia, Nasarawa State, has ruled in favour of the Asetiya family in a long-running land dispute, barring an Assistant Commissioner of Police, Zanna Shettima, and several others from further trespass on the family’s ancestral property.
Delivering judgment last Friday, Justice Simon Aboki affirmed that the disputed land, located at Angwan Barugu in Maimako Tunga District of Awe Local Government Area, rightfully belongs to the descendants of the late Baba Aduniya Asetiya.
The case, marked NSD/LF/49/2019, was filed by members of the Asetiya family, represented by Rev. Abudalokaci Asetiya. The plaintiffs sought protection of their inheritance and relief from what they described as persistent trespass and harassment by the defendants.
During proceedings, the court heard that the defendants had earlier accused the family of trespassing and initiated criminal complaints against them—actions the plaintiffs argued were intended to intimidate and disrupt their use of the land.
In his ruling, Justice Aboki upheld all claims brought by the family, declaring Rev. Asetiya the rightful owner of the property through inheritance from his father, who had lawfully acquired and occupied the land during his lifetime. The court noted that Baba Aduniya Asetiya, a farmer and fisherman, lived to 106 years before his death in 2008, and that ownership rights had validly passed to his heirs.
The judge also criticised the defendants’ conduct during the trial, citing repeated absences and frequent changes of legal counsel, which ultimately led to their defence being deemed abandoned.
Reacting to the judgment, counsel to the plaintiffs, Joseph Ejembi Agbo, described the ruling as a landmark decision that resolves longstanding disputes over the land. He further alleged that some individuals had been invoking the name of Dangote Sugar to unlawfully acquire community lands, claiming compensation had been paid.
According to him, the company had not compensated the affected communities, and the state government had no authority to appropriate ancestral land for private interests.
The court declared the entire expanse of land—bounded by River Nyitsa to the east, River Azara to the south, farmland belonging to Alhaji Gindi Kade to the west, and land formerly owned by Maimako Akwai to the north—as the lawful property of the Asetiya family.
Justice Aboki held that the defendants’ entry and use of the land constituted trespass and awarded ₦2,057,500 in special damages to the plaintiffs for losses incurred after they were prevented from cultivating rice in 2018.
The court also granted a perpetual injunction restraining the defendants and their agents from further interference with the land. Additionally, ₦1 million was awarded as general damages, alongside ₦500,000 in legal costs.
