The Situation
A client was preparing to buy a large parcel in Epe for ₦180,000,000. The seller represented that the land had been excised from government acquisition and produced a gazette together with an excision letter. The price per square metre was attractive for the size.
We charted the coordinates at the Office of the Surveyor-General rather than reading the documents the seller supplied. The parcel fell within land still under government acquisition. The excision had never been completed, and the documents in circulation originated from an application made in 2012 that did not result in a grant.
Our client did not proceed. Land under subsisting acquisition can be taken up by the State at any point, and a buyer in that position holds no compensable interest.
Excision is a process with a defined endpoint, and documents generated part-way through it circulate for years afterwards looking like evidence of completion. A gazette and a letter in a seller's file establish that an application existed. Only charting establishes where the parcel actually sits today.