A Federal Excessive Court docket in Lagos, on Thursday, issued a recent order, restraining the Lagos State Legal professional-Common and the Lagos State Particular Activity Power from their threats to demolish a disputed Lekki seaside property belonging to a former Minister of Transportation, Admiral Festus Porbeni (Rtd).
The courtroom order issued by Justice Daniel Osiagor stopped the Lagos State authorities and their brokers from interfering with the property positioned at B20, Wole Olateju Crescent, Lekki, pending the willpower of the authorized dispute earlier than the courtroom.
LEADERSHIP experiences that the Lagos State Particular Activity Power accompanied by heavily-armed cell policemen had invaded the disputed property final week Friday, and beat up, arrested employees and different folks met on the property. The officers cordoned off the world with threats to bulldoze all buildings on the property, in brazen breach of the Federal Excessive Court docket order (FHC/L/CS/1384/21). The disputed property was beforehand invaded in 2021.
Nevertheless, on Thursday, the Court docket issued the recent order after Abiodun A. Olatunji (SAN), counsel for the applicant, moved the movement. It reaffirmed that the interlocutory order made on October 18, 2021, and the holiday order issued on November 5, 2021, remained in impact and jas not been overturned by any greater courtroom.
The courtroom, due to this fact, issued a Restraining Order towards the Lagos State Legal professional-Common (1st defendant) and the Lagos State Particular Activity Power (third defendant), together with their brokers, workers, or anybody performing on their behalf, to stop all efforts to demolish, evict, or forcibly take away property, property, or gear from the plaintiffs’ property at B20, Wole Olateju Crescent, Off Admiralty Manner, Lekki Section 1, Eti-Osa Native Authorities Space, Lagos State, till the substantive swimsuit is resolved.
The defendants had been additionally requested to stop intimidation and harassment by stopping all types of intimidation, harassment, or arrest of the plaintiffs’ employees, in addition to any forceful elimination of apparatus, boats, or different gadgets. The defendants had been additionally instructed to halt any unlawful building or unauthorized allocation of the property to 3rd events.
The courtroom directed the first and third defendants to right away return any property, gear, boats, or different gadgets unlawfully faraway from the plaintiffs’ land. The gadgets must be restored to their authentic situation, as they had been earlier than the illegal actions taken by the defendants and their brokers.
An affidavit sworn by Olatubosun Kajogbola, a Senior Litigation Officer at Abdullahi Ibrahim & Co. (representing the plaintiffs), defined that the courtroom had beforehand granted an interlocutory injunction on October 18, 2021, stopping the Lagos State Legal professional-Common and the Lagos State Particular Activity Power from getting into or interfering with the plaintiffs’ property on the disputed web site.
Nevertheless, on September 16, 2024, the first and third defendants served a violation discover to the plaintiffs, alleging unlawful occupation of presidency land and unauthorised growth. The discover threatened to demolish the plaintiffs’ property until they addressed the alleged contravention inside two days.
Upon receiving the discover, the plaintiffs’ authorized group instantly contacted the Governor of Lagos State, the Commissioner for the Ministry of Waterfront Growth and Infrastructure, and the Legal professional-Common of Lagos State, reminding them of the continued lawsuit and the subsisting courtroom orders. In addition they warned of the potential contempt proceedings towards the first and third defendants.
On September 20, 2024, a gathering was held with the Commissioner for Waterfront Growth and Infrastructure, the place the plaintiffs’ solicitors confused that demolishing or evicting the plaintiffs could be a direct violation of the courtroom’s orders. The Commissioner assured that no such motion would happen and that an inner investigation could be carried out.
Regardless of the reassurance, on November 15, 2024, the first and third defendants violated the courtroom’s order by getting into the plaintiffs’ property, together with over 100 touts of their pay, stopping them from conducting their lawful enterprise. The defendants additionally started mobilizing personnel and gear to start unlawful building on the positioning.
The plaintiffs argued that they wrre struggling irreparable hurt on account of these actions, with no financial compensation adequate to handle the harm attributable to the defendants’ illegal and contemptuous conduct.
Background:
The authorized dispute dates again to 2008, when Admiral Porbeni utilized to the Nationwide Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) for approval to assemble a jetty and boat membership on the positioning. NIWA granted the applying, however tensions escalated when on September 30, 2021, officers from the Lagos State Activity Power entered the premises with out discover or a courtroom order, marking gear and buildings for elimination inside 48 hours.
Because of the actions, Admiralty Fleet Restricted and Admiral Porbeni sought a courtroom declaration that the Lagos State Activity Power’s actions represent trespass and violate their constitutional proper to personal property, as assured below Part 43 of Nigeria’s Structure.
Additionally, human rights {groups} have condemned the state’s disregard for courtroom orders, elevating issues in regards to the implications for the rule of regulation within the nation. In its response, the Good Governance Alliance Nigeria (GGA-N) said: “The case raises important issues in regards to the erosion of the rule of regulation in Lagos State and the continued overreach of state companies in defiance of federal authorized protections and courtroom orders, regardless of a Supreme Court docket ruling that affirmed the Federal Authorities’s unique authority over Nigeria’s inland waterways.”
