Otodo Gbame: Court refuses to send Ambode, others to prison

Justice Adeniyi Onigbanjo of Lagos State High Court sitting in Igbosere on Wednesday dismissed an application by displaced waterfront community residents of Otodo Gbame rseeking the committal to prison of Lagos State governor Akinwunmi Ambode, Commissioner of Police (CP) Fatai Owoseni and two others for for disobeying a court order.

Justice Onigbanjo in his ruling on Wednesday pointed out that according to Section 308 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) the Governor, who was the third respondent, had constitutional immunity from prosecution and imprisonment.

The Judge also added that the court lacked the jurisdiction to entertain the application against the Governor.

Attorney-General of Lagos and Commissioner for Justice Kazeem Adeniji, Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, and the CP are the first, second and fourth respondents respectively in the suit.

The judge ruled further that the other respondents, having acted under the clear order and direct supervision of the Governor, they could not be said to be the contemnors.

The court added that following the concession by applicants’ counsel, Friday Oteiku, and defence counsel S. A. Quadri that mediation between the parties had broken down, he would go ahead and deliver judgment in the substantive suit on April 25.

The application was instituted by 33 applicants suing on behalf of themselves and other residents of settlements including Otodo Gbame, Tomaro, Otumara, Orisunmibare, Oko Agbon, Itun Atan, Sogunro, the Ikorodu communities of Ofin, Bayeku and Olufunke Majidun and the Bariga communities of Ago Egun and Ebute-Ilaje.

They claimed through their counsel, Friday Oteiku, that the respondents breached an order of last November 7 and 16 restraining them “from demolishing any of the applicants’ homes, business premises, properties or community facilities in waterfront communities across Lagos State inhabited by the applicants or evicting the applicants there from.

The applicants, hundreds of whom besieged the court on Wednesday, also claimed that as recently as January 26, the respondents further disobeyed the court’s order that parties shall maintain the status quo, pending the final resolution of issues between them either upon conclusion of mediation as directed by the court or the final determination of this suit.

They claimed that their communities were demolished by two excavators brought by members of the Lagos State Task Force comprising soldiers, military police, Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corp and police officers.

“Much as the court empathises with the applicants’ rights and would ordinarily take all steps within the ambit of the law to protect the sanctity of judicial authority and the rule of law, the facts and circumstances of this case, in my opinion, regrettably place a constitutional barrier to any such exercise of judicial power,” the Judge ruled.

He noted that it is settled law that committal proceedings are criminal/quasi-criminal which lead to imprisonment of the alleged contemnors if found guilty.

“Under those circumstances, I think that not only must the facts alleged in proof of contempt of court be proven beyond reasonable doubt, in this particular instance, because the respondents’ actions complained about as allegedly carried out with the direct supervision of the third respondent, who happens to be the Executive Governor of Lagos State, Section 308 of the 1999 Constitution unequivocally forbids the court from entertaining this manner of application or any other criminal proceedings against the occupant of that office so long as he remains in office.

“Now, because it is clear from the affidavit evidence adduced by the applicant that the third respondent ordered the actions complained about in flagrant disobedience of the above stated directives of this court, then it must follow that the other respondents in this suit cannot really be said to be in contempt of this court or to be said to have caused the actions complained about.

“I would observe that reprehensible as the actions complained about in this application are, the court lacks jurisdiction to entertain this committal proceedings against the third respondent, and by implication, the other respondents by virtue of the immunity afforded the third respondent by Section 308 of the Constitution,” the Judge ruled.

Following the ruling, Quadri, the Lagos State Director of Civil Litigation, stated that contrary to Oteiku’s claims that the claimants were the first settlers on the land, the plaintiffs had no title to the land whatsoever.

He explained that the court order directing the parties to maintain the status quo was disobeyed by the plaintiffs who continued to build on the land.