ADEMOK CONTINENTAL LTD & ANOR
V.
OGUN STATE GOVERNMENT

UGOCHUKWU ANTHONY OGAKWU, J.C.A. (Delivering the Leading Judgment):

 The 1st Appellant was, upon its application, allocated a parcel of land situated at J4 Junction, along Benin-Sagamu Expressway, by the Respondent. Thereafter the Respondent granted the 1st Appellant a Certificate of Occupancy in respect of the said land. The Appellants developed the land and among others set up a functional Petrol Filling Station and a Guest House on the land.

​The Respondent later set up a Judicial Commission of Inquiry on Land Matters (2004-2011) and a Petition was written to the said Commission of Inquiry complaining that the land allocated to the 1st Appellant was part of the Forestry Reserve, and that the siting of a Petrol Filling Station on the land posed a danger to the Forest Reserve. The Commission of Inquiry gave the Appellants a hearing; and in its Report, it recommended that the allocation be cancelled and urged that an alternative plot of land be given to the 1st Appellant. The Respondent…