“We talk about attracting foreign investors, yet this is how we treat local investors. This must stop.”
By Ife Osemedua
365Daily – Labour Party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has condemned what he described as a “brazen act of rascality” following the demolition of a property belonging to Next Foods Limited, where his younger brother, Ndibe Obi, is the majority shareholder, at No. 57 Oduduwa Crescent, Ikeja GRA, Lagos.
According to Daily Review Newspaper, the demolition exercise, which took place between Monday, June 23 and Tuesday, June 24, 2025, was carried out based on a court judgment that transferred possession to one Deborah Olorunlogbon.
However, controversy surrounds the process, as the suit that resulted in the judgment listed the defendant simply as “an unknown person,” raising legal and ethical concerns about the validity of the claim.
Obi, who arrived at the scene on June 24 at about 9:30 a.m., intervened after receiving a distress call from his brother the previous day. He said his brother had been unaware of any legal dispute involving the property, which Next Foods Limited had acquired in 2011.
“This is a property that belongs to Next Foods Limited, which my brother is the majority shareholder. Yesterday, he called me frantically and said some people had jumped into the company’s premises, removed the roof, and were demolishing the property,” Obi told journalists.
“I asked them to show me the court order. They presented a document where the case was filed against an ‘unknown person.’ How can you sue an unknown person over a clearly occupied and developed property? This is rascality.”
He said that upon confirming that a court injunction had been secured to halt the demolition, he insisted on staying at the site until the document was delivered. He eventually handed the injunction over to the site contractor, demanding that all further demolition activities cease.
Obi also challenged the legitimacy of the claim and called for public scrutiny: “The supposed claimant has not even appeared. People here are saying they were hired and are acting for someone else. Let the real owner come forward and explain how they obtained this property.”
According to Daily Review Newspaper, Emeka Okpoko, counsel to Next Foods Limited, also faulted the legal process, describing it as fundamentally flawed.
“We only became aware of this issue on Friday, June 20, when people came to take possession of the property. Until then, we had no notice of any suit,” Okpoko said.
“The suit was filed against unknown persons. They did not challenge ownership, only possession. On Monday, we filed for joinder and submitted documents proving ownership, including the Certificate of Occupancy and Deeds of Assignment.”
Okpoko noted that the court had not been informed of the legitimate owners during the initial proceedings and argued that the judgment was obtained without due process. “They pasted the court summons, snapped a picture, and removed it—then filed it as proof of service. We’re challenging all of that. We’ve asked the court to set aside the judgment and to stop further execution,” he said.
He also disclosed that the legal team filed an injunction pending a full hearing and urged the court to allow for a trial on pleadings where all parties can present their case in full.
The property in question was purchased by Next Foods Limited from Salisu Mohammed, Emmanuel Akinbayo Campbel, and Rook and Co. in April 2011, for the sum of N280 million. The Deeds of Assignment were prepared by Okpoko, and ownership had not been contested until now.
The newspaper reported that the company’s security guard, Babagana Abubakiri, who has manned the property since 2011, was served a letter on June 20, 2025, by the office of the Assistant Inspector General of Police, Zone 2 Headquarters in Onikan, accusing him of forcible entry.
Bulldozers arrived three days later to begin demolition.
Obi, visibly distraught at the scene, concluded: “We talk about attracting foreign investors, yet this is how we treat local investors. This must stop.”