When he was alive, General Sani Abacha treated the courts with disdain. But the stone which the late infantry general rejected has become the cornerstone or, more appropriately, a boulder that has smashed his acquisitive tendency into smithereens. Though he is dead, Abacha’s family is picking up the pieces of its megida’s shattered reputation. Here is how.
The Supreme Court, on Friday 13 February 2009, dismissed a suit instituted by Abacha’s family challenging the decision of an appellate court which disallowed their bid to keep a plot of land in Diobu GRA Phase 11, Port Harcourt, Rivers State. The land in question is not vacant. No thanks to Abacha who constructed a massive edifice on it.
Abacha had acquired the plot of land while in office as the Chief of Defence Staff when Gen. Ibrahim Babangida was military president. A Certificate of Occupancy dated 10 March 1987 was issued by the Rivers State Government to the late dictator to that effect. The only trouble was that the acquisition of the plot was illegal, as the land originally belonged to a retired Permanent Secretary in the state, Chief Samuel Eke-Spiff whose building lease was registered as number 78 on page 78 in volume 25 of the Port Harcourt Land Registry. Abacha had influenced the state government to revoke Eke-Spiff’s certificate of occupancy and re-allocate the land to him.
Soon after the death of Abacha, the retired permanent secretary who had been bedridden with stroke, dragged the Rivers State government before a state High Court, challenging the revocation of his plot of land. He informed the court that the revocation did not follow due process as he was never informed that his interest in the land was to be revoked neither was he notified that the property was to be allocated to Abacha, a private citizen, for a private purpose.
The court agreed with him and held that the revocation did not comply with the provision of Section 28(6) of the Land Use Act and ordered for the re-possession of the Land by Chief Eke-Spiff. The Abacha family, through the Administrator/Executors of the Estate of Gen. Sani Abacha, appealed the lower court’s judgment at an appellate court but lost before the matter finally got to the apex court.
In the judgment delivered last Friday, the Supreme Court held that the provision of Section 28(1) and (2) of the Land Use Act makes it lawful for the Governor to revoke a right of occupancy for overriding public interest but observed that the re-allocation of the same plot of land to Abacha did not satisfy that provision by any stretch of the imagination. The apex court held that the revocation of Chief Eke-Spiff’s plot of land was not carried out in the overall interest of the public.
Justice Pius Aderemi (JSC) stated that it is not only unconscionable to take away a piece of land already allocated to one and re-allocate to another without serving a notice of revocation on the earlier allottee and not paying that person compensation, it is also very unlawful and unconstitutional to so do. While dismissing Abacha family’s appeal, the apex court categorically stated that the legal title or interest of Chief David Eke-Spiff in that property remains intact and inviolable.
Report By Nnamdi Felix.
Did you Enjoy this story? you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
Random Post
- October 13, 2008 -- Off To Court (0)
- September 8, 2008 -- Found At Last (0)
- August 11, 2008 -- A Governor’s Burden (2)
- May 4, 2008 -- Banking On Human Capital (0)
- March 17, 2008 -- ILORIN/Olawepo Seeks Production of Voters’ Register (1)
- November 10, 2008 -- BENUE/Daboh Drumming Up Support For Suswam (0)
- March 1, 2010 -- Child Witch Saga Was Overblown (0)
- December 9, 2008 -- We Were Targets Because We Are Christians (10)
- July 7, 2008 -- Rave Of Naija (2)
- January 21, 2010 -- Soccer Tragedy In Angola (0)
No tags for this post.
Related posts
Comment