Kwara state High Court in Ilorin has fixed January 24, 2020, for the commencement of hearing proper on the case between the state government and Asa Investment Limited (aka Ile Arugbo).
It is recalled that agents of the state government had early this month demolished some properties at the Ilofa road, GRA Ilorin, popularly called Ile Arugbo, owned by late Dr Olusola Saraki, alleging illegal acquisition.
However, the immediate past Senate President Bukola Saraki, who is also the son of the late politician, filed motion ex-parte through his counsel, AbdulAzeez Ibrahim, for a stay of execution at the court.
The defendants in the suit are Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, state House of Assembly, state Attorney General and Justice Commissioner, Director General, Kwara Bureau of Lands and the Inspector General of Police.
The court, on January 6, 2020, had restrained the defendants and anyone acting on their behalf from further demolishing or further destroying the alleged property of the claimant.
On Wednesday, Mr Ibrahim told the court that the case was for hearing on the motion on notice for an interlocutory injunction, adding that he had filed motion ex-parte for service on defendants/respondents on substituted means.
He added that he had not been able to serve the fifth respondent (IGP), saying that the “first to the fourth respondents had been served and they responded too. But the fifth responded has not been personally served”.
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He said that the “motion on notice was dated and filed 13th and 14th January. The application for the motion ex-parte is supported by seven paragraphs affidavit deposed to by one Ayo Ibrahim. We rely on all the averments therein. We also filed a written address in support of the affidavit. I pray the court to grant the order so that we can make progress”.
Pending the time all the court processes would have been served the fifth respondent, Ibrahim said: “We are applying orally for the court to order all the parties to maintain status quo in the interest of peace and justice as well as an extension of tenure of the interlocutory injunction”.
In his reply, state Attorney General and Commissioner of Justice Salman Jawondo, said with respect to the motion on substituted service, “we can only be seen but not heard”.
“We are opposed to the application of tenure extension of the interlocutory injunction or whatever name it is called. The application is also an invitation to chaos as the case attracted much heat and attention even beyond its content.
Ruling on the motion ex-parte for substituted service to the fifth respondent, presiding judge AA Adebara granted the application “In this application, attempts at personal service to the fifth respondent met the rock. I am satisfied that the service is made by pasting court processes on the notice board in the premises of the Kwara state police command,” he said.
Declining to make an express statement on the application for tenure elongation of the interlocutory injunction, Justice Adebara urged all the parties in the case to maintain their calm and seek for a way of settling the matter out of court.
“The first paramount thing for this court is to encourage all parties to settle the case amicably out of court; nothing is impossible. Settlement out of court is never too late to explore. I want the two sides to believe that the special grace of God peace will prevail. I am appealing to the two sides that there should be a mutual understanding”.
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