Land Transactions in Nigeria Are Invalid Without Written Consent of State Governors.
By Onyekachi Umah,Esq.
(Tip 122)
Land Transactions in Nigeria Are Invalid Without Written Consent of State Governors. This is because all Lands in Nigeria are vested on the respective state governors of the 36 states in Nigeria. Sp, the lands in a state belongs to the state and held in trust for the state by the Governor of the state. Any sale, transfer, mortgage, change of title, tenancy, assignment, power of attorney or gift of land or sharing of land of a deceased person in any state in Nigeria without the written consent of the Governor of the state or his authorized appointee (like a Commissioner of Lands) is invalid, null and void. At best, such transactions are mere attempt (inchoate) and attempted transactions.
The special nature of the Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) as not a state, means there is no Governor of FCT. Rather, there is a Minister of FCT. Hence, the lands in the FCT is vested on the Minister of FCT. Expectedly, as in the states across Nigeria, the Minister of FCT needs to sign and consent to land transactions in the FCT for them to be perfect.
It is shameful how some lawyers (and even clients) prefer to seek for the signature (consent) of Commissioners of Oath, Registrars of Courts and Notaries Public for their land transaction agreements instead of seeking the signature (consent) of Governor. Many deed of Assignments, deed of sale, deed of mortgage, deed of partition, deed of conveyance, deed of gift, deed of lease, deed of sub-lease, deed of transfer and power of attorney (or like some of my learned friends title it; “Irrevocable Power of Attorney”) have space for Commissioner of Oath or Notary Public to sign, instead of a space for a Commissioner for Lands or a Governor of a State to sign. So, the mistake or ignorance comes from law firms, thanks to the lawyers that refused to learn and the lawyers that must do all their client demands. My friend, Blessing, said their is a 3rd realm of lawyers in this ugly practice, it is the lawyers that must charge and collect extra money from clients in the name of having such agreements signed by the court (they mean the Commissioner of Oaths). This realm of lawyers may be guilt of fraud and professional misconduct. I am not unaware of the practice that a power of attorney may be taken to a court or Notary Public for signing for the “Power of Attorney” to have a higher evidential value. By evidential value, it means that the courts will presume and refer to the document as properly made and signed unless proven otherwise, so far as it is stamped (authenticated) by a notary public or any court, judge, magistrate, consul, representative of Nigeria or the President of Nigeria. You can read my detailed work on the issue of registration of Power of Attorney titled “You Don’t Need To Register Any Agreement In Courts or With A Notary PublicYou Don’t Need To Register Any Agreement In Courts or With A Notary Public” via https://sabilaw.org/no-need-to-register-agreement-in-courts/
The song by Ch’ Ella (a Nigerian artist) that promotes the principle of equality (using body typology allegory and titled “yansh na yansh”)<https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMr4PLLBE/> does not apply to the terms “Commissioner for Lands” and “Commissioner of Oath”. So, “Commissioner na Commissioner” is a “big-fat” lie. Be careful with your land transactions, mind who signs it, make sure it is the right commissioner! It pays to engage the right professional, speak with a lawyer today.
References:
1. Section 21, 22, 23, 24,25 and 26 of the Land Use Act, 1978.
2. Sections 150 and 259 of the Evidence Act, 2011
3. The Judgment of the Court of Appeal (that agreements need no court or notary public stamping to be valid) in the case of Okafor V. Titilope & Ors (2018) LPELR-44385 (CA)
4. Onyekachi Umah, “How To Make Power Of Attorney To Be Genuine And Acceptable.” (LearnNigerianLaws.com, 16 April 2019 <https://sabilaw.org/how-to-make-power-of-attorney-to-be-genuine-and-acceptable-daily-law-tips-tip-312-by-onyekachi-umah-esq-llm-aciarb-uk/> accessed 1 December 2020
5. Onyekachi Umah, “Agreements in Nigeria Do Not Require Signatures of Notaries Public or Magistrates or Court Staff to be Legal and Binding” (LearnNigerianLaws.com, 13 January 2018) <https://sabilaw.org/daily-law-tips-by-onyekachi-umah-esq-tip-121-agreements-in-nigeria-do-not-require-signatures-of-notaries-public-or-magistrates-or-court-staff-to-be-legal-and-binding/> accessed 1 December 2020
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