Even as Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, was canvassing for a restoration of the trust of Nigerians in the Nigerian Police force, Tuesday, at the South-South security summit in Asaba, Delta State, the force and its officers have been accused of doing the exact opposite in Lagos, by its total disregard of the rule of law and respect of court orders.
A Lagos-based lawyer, Chief N.C Okwarauba, is calling out the force over what he describes as its ‘less-than-noble’ role in the lingering disquiet over the ownership of the Alma Beach Estate, a choice residential estate in the Ikate, Lekki, area of Lagos.
Okwarauba who raised the alarm on Wednesday said: “As we speak, the police, in flagrant disregard of several court orders, are still deployed to the property, and worst of all, providing security cover for same touts and land grabbers, who have invaded the estate, destroying several structures and seizing and selling off empty plots there”.
READ ALSO: http://Ex-Lagos Speaker’s N338m ‘money laundering’ case to start afresh
According to the lawyer, who is also one of the allottees in the estate, the only legal backing for what the police and their collaborators are doing is an October 26, 2016 interim exparte order, granted by Justice C.A. Obiozor of the Federal High Court, in Suit No. FHC/L/CS/1242/17. That order granted NICON Holdings Limited, one of the parties to the tussle over ownership of the estate, the right to take over some 150 plots of land in the estate.
Incidentally, the allottees, under the aegis of Alma Beach Limited, had challenged the competence of that suit, before Justice Faji at the Federal High Court in Lagos, and on June 22, 2018, the court ruled that the suit brought by NICON Trustees lacked competence. That judgment consequently rendered the October 2017 interim order of Justice Obiozor null, void and of no effect.
But, according to Okwarauba, even though the Justice Obiozor order was later rescinded, and the case eventually dismissed by both the Federal High Court and the Appeal Court (Suit No. CA/L/999/2018), with resultant restraining orders, the orders have been observed more in the breach. He said the other parties have since resorted to self-help, ignoring the court orders and rather using the police and thugs to harass and intimidate the allottees, and forcefully taking procession of the controversial 150 undeveloped plots in the state. According to him, they have also gone ahead to put up the plots for sale.
While warning the general public to be wary of purchasing any plots in the estate, Okwarauba alleges that what is currently playing out in Alma Beach Estate is a deliberate plot by the land grabbers and their police collaborators to provoke a retaliation and subsequently, violence killings, which would now give police the justification to fully come in and take over the place. “But we have refused to play by their scripts. We will rather stick with the courts and the rule of law”.
He explains further: “Apart from the courts, we have also petitioned the Lagos State Task Force on Land Grabbers, which after meeting with all the parties to the matter, directed that NICON Trustees and its agents should stop trespassing on the land. We have served all these court orders, as well as the resolution of the Lagos Task force, on the Inspector General of Police. But he has refused to act, or ask his men to vacate the property.
We have it on good authority that those who want to forcefully take over our plots of land have made certain promises to some senior police officers, in the event that the police help them in seizing the land from us”, the lawyer said.
Having had their case dismissed by the court on the ground of incompetence, and a curious instance of a plaintiff suing himself – given that the legally recognized entity in the matter was technically no longer in existence, Okwarauba said their adversaries have resorted to arm-twisting tactics and self-help.
READ ALSO: http://Osun APC mourns as Oyatomi loses mom
Even as the parties head back to court later this week for the ruling for an interlocutory order by the land owners, Okwarauba fears it might well be another exercise in futility if the police insist on their old ways of disobeying the courts.
He appealed to the IGP to not only act on the recommendations before him, but also withdraw his men, who, possibly for some selfish reasons, are clearly in collusion with the touts and land grabbers, from the estate.
The controversial property, originally bought from the Elegushi family by the now defunct Rims Merchant Bank, with a N40 million facility from NICON Trustees, has been sold and resold, until it was finally bought by one of Dr. Wale Babalakin’s companies, the company which eventually sold it to the current owners. Babalakin was himself, the first plaintiff in Suit No.FHC/L/CS/1059/18, on the strength of which the latest orders were granted against NICON Trustees Ltd, one Abah Onah and the IGP on October 24, 2019.
The crisis is believed to have begun following the alleged failure of Rims Merchant Bank to meet all its obligations to its NICON Trustees creditors (who have since run into their own dire financial straits) and the subsequent engagement of a receiver manager.