Appeal Court upturns judgment on Abuja luxury apartment

The Court of Appeal, Abuja has overturned the judgment of an FCT High Court over two luxury apartments at Abeh Signature Apartments, located in the highbrow Maitama district, Abuja.

The appellate court reverted the apartments to Ms Asabe Waziri, rescinding the earlier decision of Justice Othman Musa of FCT High Court, which gave the apartments to a property development company, Abeh Signatures Ltd, and its Chief Executive Officer, Mr Cecil Osakwe.

The appellate court also blamed the trial judge for veering off track of the facts before it, which led to a miscarriage of Justice.

The property developer had in 2022 approached the FCT High Court in asking the court to revoke a contract of sales of two luxury apartments due to the mode of payment of N150 million by the buyer, Ms Waziri, which he claimed contravened the provisions of the Money Laundering Act.

The company claimed that the buyer made a cash payment of $40,000 and bank transfers worth $100,000 through Bureau de Change.

It also claimed that the defendant presented herself as a businesswoman whereas she is a civil servant working with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC).

Due to these reasons, Osakwe offered to pay back the money paid for the apartments and recover them from the defendant.

The defendant, however, denied the claims, saying she only paid $5000 from the $130,000 agreed after he requested that he needed dollars and presented evidence of all transfers made to the property developer’s accounts.

Delivering judgment, the trial judge ordered that the properties be reverted to the plaintiff.

He also ordered the plaintiff to pay back the sum of N150 million, being money deposited, to the defendant.

The judge said: “In view of the way and manner or mode of payment employed by the defendant in the purchase of the two flats at Abeh Court belonging to the claimant, same has rendered the contract for the purchase of the properties void for violating money laundering laws.”

Dissatisfied, Ms Waziri approached the Court of Appeal, challenging the decision of Justice Musa.

Ms. Waziri, represented by her counsel, Henry Eni-Otu, argued that the lower court relied solely on written statements (affidavits) without considering oral or documentary evidence to support the developer’s claim of money laundering against the Appellant.

Additionally, she questioned whether the trial judge could decide the case through originating summons given the conflicting information in the affidavits by the parties and the clear documentary evidence presented by the appellant.

In a unanimous verdict, the three-judge panel led by Justice Hamma Akawu Barka, comprising Justices Abba Bello Mohammed, and Okon Efreti Abang, set aside the lower court’s judgment in its entirety and awarded costs of N500,000 to the appellant, Ms Waziri.

The appellate Justices said the trial Court judge veered off the track in his reasoning and occasioned a miscarriage of Justice.

Justice Barka who read the lead judgment said: “It is trite law that a party seeking declarative reliefs must establish his entitlement to such reliefs based on the strength of the case, and is not entitled to rely on the weakness of the case of the respondents, unless such weakness aids his case.”

He declared that the judgment of the trial court was not supported by credible evidence and constituted a miscarriage of justice.