Court Blocks Enugu Government’s Attempt to Redefine Rural Lands as Urban Areas
By Globalvoice
The Enugu State Government’s attempt to expand its control over rural land through an executive order has suffered a major legal setback, after the state’s Customary Court of Appeal ruled that the order cannot be used to strip Customary Courts of their jurisdiction over land disputes.
In a judgment delivered on Monday, May 4, 2026, a three-member panel of the Customary Court of Appeal, led by its President, Hon. Justice G. C. Nnamani, declared Enugu State Executive Order No. 1 of 2025 defective and incapable of displacing the jurisdiction of Customary Courts over lands held under customary rights of occupancy.
The ruling effectively prevents the administration of Governor Peter Mbah from relying on the executive order to automatically transform rural communities into urban areas for the purpose of determining which courts can hear disputes over their lands.
The other members of the panel were Justices E. N. Nnamani and R. E. Ogbodo.
How the Dispute Began
Executive Order No. 1 of 2025, signed by Governor Mbah on January 9, 2025, purported to designate the entire Enugu East Local Government Area as an urban area. The designation covered communities that the court subsequently described as retaining distinctly rural characteristics, including Ugwuogo, Ibagwa Nike and Agu Oja Layout.
The order also affected other locations across the state, including communities in Udenu Local Government Area, Eha-Amufu in Isi-Uzo, Oji River, Agwu and Agbani in Nkanu West, as well as areas around Nsukka.
The controversy centres on the consequences of such designations. Under Nigeria’s land and court jurisdiction framework, the classification of an area as urban can have significant implications for land administration and the court with jurisdiction to determine certain disputes.
Critics of the government's policy had argued that extending urban designations into predominantly rural communities could weaken customary land rights and push disputes involving local landowners into the more expensive and formal High Court system.
The Case Behind the Ruling
The judgment arose from Suit No. CCN/10L/2024, with Motion No. CCA/EN/74M/2025, involving Engr. Ikenna Anselem Obinwanne as applicant and P. N. J. Okenwa, Chairman of the Ex Parte Nike Uno Customary Court, alongside Mr. Ngwu Hyginus Tochukwu, as respondents.
Obinwanne had approached the appellate court seeking an order of certiorari to quash proceedings in a land dispute before the Nike Uno Customary Court.
His legal team, led by Louis Onyia, argued that the Customary Court lacked jurisdiction because the disputed property at Agu Oja Layout had become part of an urban area following the governor's 2025 executive order.
The argument placed the validity and legal effect of the executive order at the centre of the jurisdictional dispute.
The Customary Court of Appeal rejected that position.
Executive Order Could Not Operate Retrospectively
In its 12-page judgment, the court held that the 2025 executive order could not retrospectively alter the jurisdiction of a court over proceedings that had already commenced.
Justice G. C. Nnamani, who delivered the judgment, noted that the underlying suit had been filed on May 3, 2024, months before Governor Mbah signed the executive order.
The court relied, among other authorities, on the Supreme Court decision in Goldmark Nig. Ltd v. Ibafon Co. Ltd (2012) 10 NWLR (Pt. 1308) 291, in reaching its conclusion that a subsequent legal instrument could not retrospectively interfere with existing proceedings.
Court Questions Broad Urban Designation
The court also examined the Enugu Capital Territory Development Authority Law No. 5 of 2009, which had been relied upon in the case.
Justice Nnamani held that the law was principally concerned with establishing an authority for development control and could not, by itself, be interpreted as a blanket designation of areas as urban under Section 3 of the Land Use Act 1978.
The judgment went further, questioning whether the governor's power to designate urban areas could legitimately be extended to places that remain demonstrably rural in character.
The court drew a sharp distinction between genuinely urban environments and rural communities, pointing to characteristics such as population density, developed roads, public transportation infrastructure, traffic systems and other features associated with urban development.
In one of the judgment's most striking passages, the court stated that treating manifestly rural communities as urban areas would be:
“Akin to Legislating a man into a woman without the requisite female anatomy.”
The court specifically cited Ugwuogo, describing its forests, wilderness and rural character as evidence that the community could not simply be classified as an urban area by executive declaration.
Executive Order Declared Ineffective
Ultimately, the Customary Court of Appeal held that Executive Order No. 1 of 2025 could not be used to oust the jurisdiction of Customary Courts over disputes involving land subject to customary rights of occupancy.
The court therefore dismissed the application challenging the Customary Court's jurisdiction and rejected the attempt to rely on the executive order as the basis for removing the case from the Customary Court system.
The ruling could have wider implications for land disputes across Enugu State, particularly in communities affected by the government's expanded urban designations.
At the heart of the dispute is a larger question over the limits of executive power in land administration: how far can a state government go in redefining the legal status of rural communities, and can an executive order alter the rights and jurisdictional protections that existed before the order was issued?
The court's decision provides an important judicial answer in this particular case, holding that Executive Order No. 1 of 2025 cannot, by itself, erase the jurisdiction of Customary Courts over affected customary lands.
Globalvoice will continue to monitor the legal and land-policy implications of the judgment and any subsequent action by the Enugu State Government.
#Enugu #PeterMbah #EnuguState #LandRights #CustomaryCourt #CourtRuling #Nigeria #LandUse #RuralCommunities #PropertyRights #LegalNews #NigerianLaw #Globalvoice
