Capital Gardens apologises as Lagos court ends Hampton Island land dispute

Capital Gardens Limited, owned by businessman Kennedy Okonkwo, has issued a public apology to Adewale Oladapo and Oretol Nigeria Limited over false publications arising from a legal dispute concerning a portion of land within Hampton Island Estate, Lekki, Lagos.

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The apology formed part of the Terms of Settlement adopted as a consent judgement by the Lagos State High Court on 13 January, bringing the dispute to a final conclusion.

The judge Jumoke Pedro entered the judgement after lawyers to both parties informed the court that they had amicably resolved the matter.

At the hearing, lawyer to the claimant, S. B. Joseph, who is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), told the court that although an application dated 3 December 2025 was pending, the parties had since settled their differences and jointly requested the court to adopt their settlement as final judgement.

He said all parties executed the agreement on 9 January.

The lawyer to the defendant, Mariam Oyede, confirmed the settlement and aligned with the request.

Admission and apology

Under the terms of the consent judgement, Capital Gardens admitted that certain statements and publications it made against Mr Oladapo and Oretol Nigeria Limited were false and misleading.

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In compliance with the settlement, the company published an unreserved apology in national newspapers, including The Guardian, Leadership and The New Telegraph, on 2 January.

In the notices, Capital Gardens acknowledged the embarrassment caused to Mr Oladapo and Oretol Nigeria Limited and formally retracted the misrepresentations.

Following the publication of the apology, the parties confirmed that all outstanding issues had been resolved, paving the way for the court to adopt the settlement as its judgement.

The dispute

The dispute stemmed from a 2020 agreement under which Oretol Nigeria Limited, the estate’s developer, agreed to allocate four hectares of land to Capital Gardens upon full reclamation.

However, delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with rising inflation and increased construction costs, significantly raised the cost of reclamation, making the project commercially impracticable, according to court filings.

Oretol later terminated the agreement, prompting Capital Gardens to file the suit.

The suit, instituted by Capital Gardens Limited, concerned a four-hectare portion of unreclaimed and submerged land within the approximately 40-hectare Hampton Island Estate in Lekki.

The disputed land was delineated in Survey Plan No. FAI/3454/A01/2024/LA, dated 8 February 2024, and prepared by a registered surveyor, A. I. Fashina.

Court records clarified that, contrary to claims circulating online, the litigation did not affect the entire Hampton Island Estate. Only the four hectares in dispute, still submerged and unreclaimed, were involved in the suit. The rest of the estate operates under a government-approved layout.

Earlier court proceedings

In June 2025, another judge of the Lagos High Court, E. O. Ashade, ordered all parties to refrain from selling or taking steps that could undermine the court’s authority pending the hearing of the substantive suit.

The judge also directed that the case be returned to the Chief Judge of Lagos State for reassignment.

Ms Ashade held that an interim injunction earlier granted had become ineffective, noting that the parties had since complied with the Pre-Action Protocol of the High Court of Lagos State, which formed the basis for the injunction.

By virtue of the consent judgment entered by Ms Pedro, the dispute between Capital Gardens Limited and Oretol Nigeria Limited over the unreclaimed four hectares of land within Hampton Island Estate has been fully and finally resolved, with no issues remaining before the court.