Their was a huge relief for the plaintiffs in the Enugu Century City land legal tussle on Wednesday as the State High Court granted their prayer to admit the principal witnesses as joinders in the suit.
During the hearing, the plaintiffs; Richard Nnamani, Chinwuba Agah, Lazarus Ani and nine others, through their counsel, Emeka Abah Esq, had sought for the inclusion of their principal witnesses as joinders in the suit.
The defendants in the suit are Spotter Construction Limited and Stanley Ani, popularly known as ‘Ntu Ukana’.
The plaintiffs in a suit number E 2.55/2022, are asking the state high court for a declaration that without authorization or any transfer of title, the defendants trespassed unto Onu Ogbor-Ekwu land measuring about 9.9 hectares, situated at Amechi Uwani Awkunanaw in Enugu South Local Government Area of Enugu State, being part of the ancestral lands of the families of Ndiaga, Umuchimengwu and Umunenshi Amechi Uwani, Awkunanaw, Enugu.
They also sought for “a declaration that the concerned kindred families and sub-families of Ndiaga, Umuchimengwu and Umunenshi Amechi Uwani, Awkunanaw in Enugu South Local Government Area of Enugu State, Nigeria, are the cultural owners by inheritance and devolution of property of the ancestral lands known as Agbana, Ogbor Ekwu, Uzam, Onu Ede, Ogbu-Udene, Isuavu, Ururuorji, Onu uzam and Onu Ayo lands situated at Amechi-Uwani Awkunanaw in Enugu South Local Government Area of Enugu State, Nigeria.
“An order of the court directing the defendants to forthwith vacate Onu Ogbor-Ekwu land or any of the plaintiffs’ land situated at Amechi-Uwani, Awkunanaw, Enugu, being part of the ancestral land of the families of Ndiaga, Umuchimengwu and Umunenshi Amechi Uwani, Awkunanaw in Enugu South Local Government Area of Enugu State, Nigeria, which they trespassed unto without authorization or transfer of title.”
The petitioners asked prospective buyers of the disputed land to be aware of land racketeers to avoid wasteful investments.
The presiding judge, Justice H.O. Eya granted the prayers of the plaintiffs pending the determination of the substantive suit.
Meanwhile, one of the defendants, Mr Stanley Ani, was last Thursday remanded at a Correctional Centre in Abuja over alleged possession of pump action guns and some cartridges without licence.
The Inspector General of Police had arraigned Mr Ani before a judge of the Federal High Court in Abuja, Justice Nkeonye Maha, on a three-count charge.
Ani however pleaded not guilty after the charges were read to him. His lawyer, Igwe E.A., had urged the court to admit his client to bail in liberal terms; but the judge had rejected the lawyer’s plea, saying “From the records of the court, the defendant on five occasions failed to appear in court.”
Ani was later granted bail in the sum of N2m with two sureties who must be civil servants not below level 9 in the federal civil service.
