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A Legal practitioner based in Lagos, Chief Gani Faniyi has warned those with big estate properties to handle it with extreme caution because of its potential power to tear children and families apart.
Chief Faniyi gave this warning during an exclusive interview with Crude Reports magazine. Speaking on the various dimension of disputes that often arise on land or estate matters, the lawyer with over thirty-one years of legal experience advised those planning to buy any piece of land, be it a plot, acres or hectares to endeavour to search and know the status of such a land by engaging the services of a lawyer. He warned that anyone who purchased a land from the wrong person will end up losing money apart from the possibility of being dragged into a court case from the rightful owner who will seek to recover his land back.
Asked to comment on the likely pitfalls of having estate properties without proper legal administration, The Broadcaster turned Lawyer with a ringing voice said “The pitfalls are many. I have a Client that has lots of landed properties and in her will she asked me to write it there that a year after her death, all the beneficiaries of the landed properties should begin to sell them off because she knows if left unsold, it will lead to crisis and she didn’t want any property that will join the children together”.
Pressed further to explain why his client took that decision, Chief Gani Faniyi opened up on similar cases that he had been privileged to handle in the course of his legal career. “If I tell you some of the details of what we know, when the children start fighting over these landed properties, it will be as if the devil has come to do business with them. Good as the idea of having properties for beneficiaries is, It is also very, very difficult and harmful. It will tear families asunder beyond the expectations of the founders of such properties”.
Why is the issue such volatile? he was asked. As if expecting that question, Chief Faniyi said, “It is volatile because it is also in the scriptures that a foolish man amass wealth without knowing who will inherit it.” Going philosophical, he maintained that it is the foolish people that will be crazy about amassing properties for beneficiaries because once you see what plays out practically on the long run, you will know that it is not worth all the trouble at all.”
In what looks like a graphic picture of what he had witnessed over and over, he said, “If the founders of such estates or landed properties can resurrect or come back to life from their graves, they will not pray to buy just ordinary one block in their lifetime again.
He rounded up by saying that despite all the volatile nature that surrounds landed properties, it is important to have a will because, according to him, “A will that is done in the right way is like talking from the grave for the initiator of the will so as to ensure smooth administration of such vast estates.”
On cases of collapsed buildings in Nigeria that kept on rising, Chief Gani Faniyi affirmed that until government regulators sit up, culprits of such heinous activities will continue to go scot-free while damaging the integrity of the building industry in Nigeria.
Before joining the legal profession, Chief Gani Faniyi was a broadcaster of note as a programme Producer and Director with the Nigerian Television Authority. He later quit broadcasting and went into law practice since 1993.
Asked to comment on the likely pitfalls of having estate properties without proper legal administration, The Broadcaster turned Lawyer with a ringing voice said “The pitfalls are many. I have a Client that has lots of landed properties and in her will she asked me to write it there that a year after her death, all the beneficiaries of the landed properties should begin to sell them off because she knows if left unsold, it will lead to crisis and she didn’t want any property that will join the children together”.
Pressed further to explain why his client took that decision, Chief Gani Faniyi opened up on similar cases that he had been privileged to handle in the course of his legal career. “If I tell you some of the details of what we know, when the children start fighting over these landed properties, it will be as if the devil has come to do business with them. Good as the idea of having properties for beneficiaries is, It is also very, very difficult and harmful. It will tear families asunder beyond the expectations of the founders of such properties”.
Why is the issue such volatile? he was asked. As if expecting that question, Chief Faniyi said, “It is volatile because it is also in the scriptures that a foolish man amass wealth without knowing who will inherit it.” Going philosophical, he maintained that it is the foolish people that will be crazy about amassing properties for beneficiaries because once you see what plays out practically on the long run, you will know that it is not worth all the trouble at all.”
In what looks like a graphic picture of what he had witnessed over and over, he said, “If the founders of such estates or landed properties can resurrect or come back to life from their graves, they will not pray to buy just ordinary one block in their lifetime again.
He rounded up by saying that despite all the volatile nature that surrounds landed properties, it is important to have a will because, according to him, “A will that is done in the right way is like talking from the grave for the initiator of the will so as to ensure smooth administration of such vast estates.”
On cases of collapsed buildings in Nigeria that kept on rising, Chief Gani Faniyi affirmed that until government regulators sit up, culprits of such heinous activities will continue to go scot-free while damaging the integrity of the building industry in Nigeria.
Before joining the legal profession, Chief Gani Faniyi was a broadcaster of note as a programme Producer and Director with the Nigerian Television Authority. He later quit broadcasting and went into law practice since 1993.
By Tunde Olaore
