The late Abayomi Cole, a distinguished Krio medical practitioner started acquiring his property in 1895 in what was the Sierra Leone Colony. The first conveyance for the property was signed on the 21st of February 1895, the second on the 22 March 1895 and the third on the 20th September 1917 and total of 96.6189 acres of land.
Abayomi Cole died in 1943 and in his will, Cole gave his property to his children, grand children, and generation yet unborn. Edmond Perkinson acting in agreement with the entire family took a probate for the property and was on behalf of the family in possession of the property as a private property until his death.
The headache of the beneficiaries of the Cole estate started immediately after the war ended, when people the Coles referred to “a few rough elements” operating within the Ministry of Lands decided to discard all legitimate documents spanning over one hundred years and all court pronouncements detailing the property as private and have gone ahead to “retake some part of the property”.
A court action was taken by the Beneficiaries on the 20th of July 2009 against the Minister of Lands, his Deputy, the Permanent Secretary and the Director of Surveys. On the 24th of July 2009, a State Lawyer Ousman Kanu entered an appearance in court, never filing any defense and on the 12th of March 2010 judgment was passed in favor of the Cole family.
The Ministry of Lands has however refused to honor the said court decision and has instead gone ahead and handed “letters of offer” signed by the Permanent Secretary, Sannah Mara, to unsuspecting and distinguished Sierra Leoneans whose reputation is at stake as they now risk been referred to as “land grabbers”.
The lawyer representing the beneficiaries, Jenkins Johnston has started writing people “occupying the property”, and has vowed to publish the names of the occupiers.
By Solomon Raye Wilson
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