The Lagos State High Court has ordered the management of Lekki Gardens Estate Phase 2 to immediately restore unrestricted access to residents after finding the blockade of the estate’s main gate “unlawful and unjustified.”
The ruling, delivered on September 29, 2025, by Justice W.A. Imman at the High Court of Lagos State, sitting in Ikeja, sided with three aggrieved residents Mr. Aire E. Brun, Mrs. Jumola Bolarin, and Dr. Julius Utomin who accused the estate’s management and residents’ association of infringing on their constitutional rights.
The applicants, all property owners in the upscale Ajah enclave, argued that the denial of entry through the main gate violated Sections 34, 35, and 43 of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution (as amended), as well as Articles 2, 5, and 6 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act, 2004.
According to court documents, the dispute erupted when the estate’s Phase 2 Residents Association, led by Dr. Eniola Awolela, restricted access to the main gate and walkways, citing unpaid service charges and levies. The residents claimed this action humiliated them and caused emotional and psychological distress, forcing them to use alternative routes or face harassment from security personnel.
“The respondents’ actions amount to a denial of ingress and egress, patterning as trespass on the applicants’ properties,” Justice Imman noted in the judgment.
In granting the applicants’ prayers, the court declared the access denial “unlawful and without justification,” and issued a perpetual injunction restraining the respondents, their agents, or workmen from further infringing on the residents’ fundamental rights to personal liberty, dignity, and property acquisition.
The judge emphasized that while estate rules on maintenance fees are valid for service provision, they cannot override constitutional guarantees of free movement under Section 41.
“The suit is not a fundamental rights application but a simple civil claim for breach of contract,” the respondents had argued in their defense, insisting that the blockade was a legitimate enforcement measure for outstanding dues totaling over ₦25 million across the estate.
They also claimed that the applicants had failed to update their details in the estate’s app and had not objected to prior fee hikes approved in general meetings. However, Justice Imman dismissed these arguments, ruling that the estate’s so-called “Smart Boom Bar” security system and pedestrian access controls must remain accessible to all paid-up residents without discriminatory locks or barriers.
The judgment clarified that disputes over estate fees must be resolved through civil processes and not through actions that restrict residents’ constitutional rights.
This case underscores growing tensions in Nigeria’s gated communities, where rising service charges recently hiked from ₦28,500 to ₦43,000 monthly have led to aggressive enforcement measures. While the residents’ association defended the policy as necessary to fund security, waste management, and repairs, the court ruled that such measures cannot justify exclusion or restriction of movement.
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