The Court of Appeal, Lagos Division, has nullified a 2013 judgment by the Federal High Court that permitted Guaranty Trust Bank Plc (GTBank) to foreclose on a N30 billion Ikoyi property belonging to Alhaji Agboola Abiola, the son of the late business mogul and acclaimed winner of the 1993 presidential election, Chief M.K.O. Abiola.
The appellate court, in Appeal No. CA/L/888/2014, held that the mortgage document relied upon by GTBank to appoint a receiver and initiate foreclosure was riddled with irregularities and allegations of forgery that were not adequately addressed by the trial court.
The unanimous judgment was delivered by Justice Paul Aimee Bassi, with Justices Polycarp Kwahar and Abdulaziz Anka concurring. The panel ruled that the Federal High Court erred by failing to properly evaluate serious allegations of document tampering, forgery, and fraudulent consolidation of loans raised by the appellants — RCN Networks Ltd and Alhaji Agboola Abiola.
Justice Bassi noted that the mortgage deed had discrepancies in its pagination and execution that cast substantial doubt on its authenticity. While the deed’s pages were numbered “2 of 9” to “9 of 9,” the execution page bore a conflicting label: “11 of 17.” The court held this as strong evidence suggesting that the signature page was lifted from another document and improperly inserted into the mortgage deed.
“The lower court erred by ruling on a document whose authenticity was seriously in question. This appeal succeeds. The judgment of the lower court dated June 20, 2014, is hereby set aside,” Justice Bassi declared. The court ruled that both parties would bear their respective legal costs.
The case originated from a June 20, 2014, ruling in which the Federal High Court had granted GTBank’s reliefs in a motion filed in April 2014, effectively allowing the bank to appoint a receiver over the 44-room luxury mansion located in highbrow Ikoyi, Lagos.
The appellants, represented by Dr. Charles Adeogun-Phillips (SAN), challenged the decision on four grounds, including whether GTBank could lawfully amend its affidavit after judgment had been reserved, whether a valid tripartite legal mortgage existed, and whether the trial court correctly evaluated evidence of forgery and consolidation of unrelated loan facilities.
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Alhaji Agboola Abiola denied ever signing the deed and alleged that his signature had been fraudulently extracted from a different document to support enforcement of a separate N1 billion loan, after the liquidation of a prior N508 million facility.
GTBank was further accused of merging the two loan agreements without the consent of the appellants and using questionable documentation to initiate foreclosure proceedings.
While multiple police investigations into the forgery allegations produced conflicting conclusions—one recommending arbitration and another dismissing the claims—the appellate court ruled that such reports did not definitively resolve the lingering doubts over the authenticity of the document.
Justice Bassi criticised the lower court for focusing primarily on the interpretation of Clause 6 of the mortgage deed while ignoring substantive procedural issues such as fraud, forgery, and improper loan consolidation.
