A Rivers State High\u00a0 Court has declared that the disputed land at
\nRainbow Town in Port Harcourt which is currently under the control of
\nthe Rivers State Ministry of Urban Development Board belongs to the
\nRivers State Government.<\/p>\n
The Registered Trustees of Trans-Amadi Mosque, Port Harcourt had
\napproached the Rivers State High Court in Port Harcourt in February
\n2012, after the\u00a0 then Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi Administration
\nthrough the Rivers State Ministry of Urban Development and Physical
\nPlanning stopped them from erecting\u00a0 a structure on the disputed
\nGovernment land without approval.<\/p>\n
In that instance, the Registered Trustees of Trans-Amadi Mosque, Port
\nHarcourt claimed\u00a0 that the Amaechi administration through its agents and
\nservants forcibly entered the land in dispute, fenced\u00a0 it up with wired
\nfence and locked it up. The several claims of the claimants were marked
\nExhibits A to H1 respectively<\/p>\n
Ruling in Suit Number PHC\/986\/2012 between Registered Trustees of
\nTrans-Amadi Mosque, Port Harcourt (Claimant) and the Commissioner,
\nMinistry of Urban Development and Physical Planning, Rivers State, the
\nGovernor of Rivers State and the Attorney General of Rivers State
\n(Defendants), Justice G.O. Omereji on Tuesday, 27th November, 2018 said:<\/p>\n
“It is very clear that from the above authorities, the effect of Exhibit
\nK, the Certificate of Title in the instant case, the defendants,
\nespecially the 2nd and 3rd defendants have valid title to the land in
\ndispute because the acquisition of the land as in Exhibit K by the
\nGovernment extinguishes every prior existing title over the said land”.<\/p>\n
Justice Omereji stated that it was clear that the claimant’s plan
\nAI\/RV\/2009\/013 was charged on both the Ortho-Photo map and Greater Port
\nHarcourt Acquisition of 1959 and that the said land is within the
\nGreater Port Harcourt.<\/p>\n
The Court declared that Exhibits J1 and J2 clearly show that the
\nclaimant purchased a a land from Dr E.E. Amadi, which was already owned
\nby the State Government following its acquisition by the Eastern
\nNigerian\u00a0 Government in 1959.<\/p>\n
Justice Omereji held that: “The defendants have in Exhibits J, J1 and J2
\ninclusive of Exhibit K, which is the Certificate of Title, established
\nthat the land, the subject matter of this suit, was acquired in 1959 by
\nthe Government.<\/p>\n
“My humble opinion is that the claimants have not\u00a0 established that they
\nhave better title to the land,\u00a0 \u00a0the subject matter of this suit and
\nthey have not established that at the material time they were in
\npossession and that the defendants\u00a0 do not have better title to the
\nland”.<\/p>\n
The Judge ruled that the defendants established that they have better
\ntitle to the disputed land.<\/p>\n
“My humble opinion is that the claimants in this case have not
\nestablished that they have better title\u00a0 to the land in dispute in this
\ncase.<\/p>\n
“The issue I have considered in this suit is to be resolved in favour of
\nthe defendants (Rivers State Government) as against the claimants
\n(Registered Trustees of Trans-Amadi Mosque, Port Harcourt)”, Justice
\nOmereji ruled.<\/p>\n
The Rivers State Government in its Statement of Defence, carefully
\noutlined\u00a0 its ownership\u00a0 of the land and spelt out that there was no
\napproval given to the trustees to construct a Mosque on the disputed
\nland.<\/p>\n
In his judgment, Justice Omereji noted:<\/p>\n
“The Statement\u00a0 of Defence and the evidence of the defendants two
\nwitnesses show that the land, the subject matter of this suit is State
\nLand\u00a0 acquired for public purpose by the Eastern Region of Nigeria in
\n1959 under the Public Acquisition law as evidenced by the Certificate of
\nTitle dated 27th Day of June, 1961 Registered as Number 26 on Page 26 in
\nVolume\u00a0 2 of the Land Registry, Enugu, now in Port Harcourt and whose
\nassets the Rivers State Government inherited which is Exhibit K.<\/p>\n
“The evidence also show\u00a0 that the claimants had no approval from the
\nRivers State Government to make use of the said land, prior to the use
\nof the land for any religious or other purposes and that the defendants
\ndid not destroy any property belonging to the claimants.<\/p>\n
“The said area where the claimants uses for religious activities falls
\nwithin the area acquired by the Rivers State Government as in the
\nExhibit K. The evidence shows that the claimants acquired nothing from
\nChief Dr Edward S. Amadi since Chief Edward S. Amadi cannot give what he
\ndoes not have because\u00a0 the land in dispute has been acquired and has
\nbeen State land since 1959”.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A Rivers State High\u00a0 Court has declared that the disputed land at Rainbow Town in Port Harcourt which is currently under the control of the Rivers State Ministry of Urban…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":68774,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n