The long-running dispute between Winhomes Estate Global Services Ltd and the Federal Government over a stretch of land along the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway came to a definitive end after a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos struck out the company’s suit for lack of jurisdiction.
For months, the battle had grown into a high-stakes confrontation, with the real estate firm insisting that the planned highway threatened plots it claimed to own on the Lagos shoreline.
The company’s CEO, Ifeoma Okengwu, asked the court to stop the Ministry of Works from touching the land and demanded $250 million as damages.
Justice Akintayo Aluko, however, delivered a ruling that shifted the weight of the controversy. The court held that Winhomes had already sold or transferred its interest in the disputed land to third parties, leaving it without the legal capacity to sue.
The judge explained that the claims bordered on trespass and fell under matters governed by the Land Use Act, which do not fall within the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court under Section 251 of the Constitution.
The ruling marked a decisive turn in a dispute that had drawn significant public interest. Many observers followed the case closely because the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway represents one of the federal government’s most ambitious infrastructural projects, promising to reshape transport, commerce, and coastal tourism.
The court decision effectively cleared the path for the Ministry of Works to continue work along the approved Right of Way after months of demolition activities, compensation offers, and tense engagements with shoreline communities.
The ministry maintained that the verdict confirms that its actions followed legal procedures and technical guidelines, describing the lawsuit as a distraction from a project expected to benefit millions of Nigerians.
For residents and businesses affected by the construction, the judgment brings clarity—ending a high-profile legal confrontation and reaffirming the federal government’s authority to move forward with one of Nigeria’s biggest infrastructural transformations in decades.
