Court orders Deeper Life to pay N5m to Celestial Church for encroaching on their land – Pastor Kumuyi-led denomination loses further appeal at appelate court The Deeper Christian Life Ministry (DCLM) has lost its case against the Celestial Church of Christ (CCC) at the Appeal Court.
According to The Nation, the Lagos Appeal Court upheld a high court judgment ordering the Registered Trustees of DLCM to pay N5 million as damages for trespass on a piece of land owned by the white garment ministry.
Joseph Ebhodagbe who represented the Celestial Church, had sued the Pastor William Kumuyi-led ministry over a disputed land measuring approximately 1055.864 square meters. READ ALSO: Photos: Nigerian pastors who refrain from political statements The landed property said to be situated at Mulero area of Agege and registered as No. 75 Volume 2004T at the Lagos State Land Registry, Ikeja, brought about the impasse between both well-recognised denominations in Nigeria before the court case.
Justice Candide-Johnson had in a judgment on January 17, 2014, declared the CCC as the rightful owner of the disputed land and awarded N5m as damages against Deeper Life. Also, a perpetual injunction restraining DCLM, its agents or servants from further trespass on the disputed land, was granted after the judgment. But the Deeper Life, through its lawyer, Gabriel Akigbe, showed its dissatisfaction, and appealed against the judgment. The DLCM urged the court to set aside the initial judgment on the grounds that the trial judge was in error with regard to the documentary and oral evidence presented in the court.
however, the appellate court comprising Justice Chinwe Iyizoba (presiding), Justice Yargata Nimpar and Justice Abimbola Obaseki-Adejumo dismissed the appeal on the grounds that it was unmeritorious.
Justice Abimbola Obaseki-Adejumo, in her lead judgment, resolved all the six issues in contention to favour the respondent, while observing that both parties traced their title ownership to the Olalabi-Sulu family.