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Trustees of Trans-Amadi take Rivers government to Appeal Court over disputed land

By Kelvin Ebiri, Port Harcourt
05 September 2019   |   2:59 am
The Registered Trustees of Trans-Amadi Mosque have approached the appellate court to challenge the conferment of ownership of disputed land use as prayer ground by Muslims on the Rivers State government.

Court of Appeal

The Registered Trustees of Trans-Amadi Mosque have approached the appellate court to challenge the conferment of ownership of disputed land use as prayer ground by Muslims on the Rivers State government.

The trustees said the judgment of Rivers State High Court, presided over Justice George Omereji on the ownership of the disputed land at Rainbow town on the Rivers State on the basis of title documents that date back to old Eastern Region, was defective.

In suit No. CA/PH/189/2019, the trustees claimed that the lower court erred in judgment in suit No. PHC/986/2012 when the judge asserted that the Rivers State government’s title, which was presented to the court, was superior to the ownership claim of Mr. Edward Amadi whom they claimed sold the land to them.

The trustees, therefore, prayed the appellate court to set aside the judgment of the High Court of Rivers State delivered on November 27, 2018, in the matter between them versus the Commissioner, Ministry of Urban Development & Physical Planning; Governor of Rivers State and the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice.

They contended that it was wrong for the lower court trial judge to have tenaciously relied on the certificate of title represented by the Rivers State government as the only valid title to the land in dispute.

Besides, the trustees stressed that the trial judge in his judgment erred because he had failed to consider and determine the issue raised by them that the Rivers State government be stopped from claiming title to the land in dispute.

The Rivers State Ministry of Urban Development and Physical Planning, on basis of Justice Omereji, had ordered the trustees to stop work on the site early in July before proceeding with the demolition of the foundation and pillars on the disputed land located in the Rainbow Estate in Port Harcourt.

The Rivers State High Court had declared that the land in question belongs to the Rivers State Government. The Court also declared that the Registered Trustees of Trans-Amadi Mosque had no approval to construct any structure on the disputed land.

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