An Oyo State High Court has ruled in favor of the children and family of the late Chief Olalekan Lagoke, declaring that their relationship with the deceased remains valid, even without presenting a letter of administration.
Presiding over the matter, Justice Kabiru Olawoyin dismissed a preliminary objection filed by Mrs. Biola Ayinke Titilayo, who contested the legal standing (locus standi) of the claimants, Professor Segun Lagoke and Mr. Olawuyi Lagoke, representing other members of the Lagoke family.
The court held that “the four claimants are not busy body as alleged by the first defendant.”
Chief Olalekan Rafiu Lagoke, an America returnee, passed away intestate (without a will) in October 2022.
Following his death, Titilayo challenged the rights of the children and family to claim ownership of his properties, arguing that they had no letter of administration and therefore lacked legal authority.
However, Justice Olawoyin ruled that “first and second claimants are junior brothers to the deceased and section 41 of the Estate Law of Oyo State allows the first and second claimants to sue for the properties of their late brother since the children are minors.”
The judge further stated that the claimants had made it clear that the deceased “only co-habitated with the first defendant when he returned from Lagos state to Ibadan and there was no child between them,” and thus, referring to them as “busy body in this case is null and void.”
He also held that “the fact that the claimants did not present letter of administration on the properties of late Chief Olalekan Rafiu Lagoke before the court cannot prevent them from representing their family in protecting the properties of their late brother.”
The disputed properties include a duplex located at 4, Gbedu Street, Ikolaba Estate; a completed property at Kehinsi Village near Paara in the New Airport area of Ona Ara Local Government; and an uncompleted land in the Ikolaba area measuring 518.452 square meters.
The claimants, represented by counsel Mr. Peter Idowu and Mr. Taiwo Adediran, asked the court to declare that “the first defendant has no legal authority to sell any of the properties of late Chief Olalekan Rafiu Lagoke” and that “the purported sale of the uncompleted land at Oba Oni Street, Ikolaba area with survey no plan Oy/3912/2020/060 dated 31/08/2020 by first defendant to the second defendant was illegal.”
They also prayed the court to set aside the sale and issue an “order of perpetual injunction restraining the defendants, and others from interfering, entering, disposing, selling, building or undertaking any construction work, tampering or dealing in any manner whatsoever with the properties of the deceased.”
The matter has been adjourned to June 16, 2025, for a case management conference.
