The Inspector General of Police, IGP Ibrahim Idris, has been accused of sending policemen to grab land in Apo District, Abuja forcefully in defiance of the judgment of the Court of Appeal.
In a case between ENL Consortium Limited and Incorporated Trustees of Apo XK Extension Residents Association, the Court of Appeal ruled that ENL Consortium Limited was not the owner of the disputed land in Apo District, FCT and awarded title to Apo XK Extension Residents Association in CA/A/492/2011.
On October 12, 2017, the judgment was enforced by Court officers who evicted ENL Consortium Limited and handed over the land to the rightful owners of the disputed land. But in a dramatic u-turn and flagrant disobedience of court judgment, the Inspector General of Police asigned policemen to ENL Consortium Limited to evict owners of the land.
“The Policemen, on the instructions of the IGP occupied the land and locked us out of our houses. The Police handed the houses back to ENL Consortium Limited contrary to the judgment of the Court of Appeal and are guarding them.
“The Police have refused to abate their illegal action till date despite several demands on the Inspector General of Police. Parties who lose cases in court now run to the Nigeria Police rather than appeal against unfavorable judgments,” decried the owners of the land in a statement by their Counsels. They say that over five hundred families were affected in one of the biggest Abuja land grab cases.
It could be recalled that the owners of the land had appealed against the judgment of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja in suit NO FCT/HC/CV/1457/2009 delivered on May 27, 2011. After hearing the appeal, the Court of Appeal held that:
1. This appeal succeeds and it is allowed
2. The Judgment of the trial Court is hereby set aside
3. The allocation to the land in dispute to ENL Consortium Limited by FCDA is null and void.
4. The purported revocation of the titles of the plaintiffs to the land in dispute is illegal, therefore void.
5. ENL Consortium Limited and their agents are ordered to abate the acts of trespass and remove all personnel or machinery from the land in dispute.
6. The sum of N2million is awarded to the appellants as damages for trespass. Cost of N100,000 is awarded in favor of the appellants.
The above orders of the Court of Appeal are being contravened flagrantly without any pretext to adherence to the rule of law by policemen who evicted the owners of the land and handed the property back to ENL Consortium Limited.
