The demolition of buildings in Victory Park Estate, Ibeju-Lekki, Victoria Island, by the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), allegedly against the order of the Court of Appeals sitting in Lagos has become a source of sorrow for the owner of the affected buildings, Mr Adebayo Mumuni Shittu.
Shittu cried doe help from Nigerians on what he called ongoing illegal demolition of his two buildings since Wednesday, July 28, 2021.
According to him, AMCON’s action is not only contemptuous but also a flagrant abuse of the Court of Appeals’ judgement delivered by Justice Monica Bolna’an Dongban, leading two other judges, including Justice Mudashiru Oniyagi and Justice Jamilu Y. Tukur, on Tuesday, December 15, 2020, in Lagos.Â
The judgment according to him, which allegedly forbade the corporation from taking any action on the said properties in Victory Park Estate, in Ibeju-Lekki, Victoria Island, was sequel to an appeal challenging the ruling of the High Court of Lagos, by Justice Coram K.A. Jose delivered on October 24, 2019, dismissing the Defendant’s, now Appellant’s Notice of Preliminary Objection, granted the Order of Interlocutory Injunction in favour of the First and Second Respondents, Mr Adebayo Mumuni Shittu and More & S.A. More Limited.Â
According to the court, its judgement, which was based on the facts leading to the appeal as contained in the Appellant’s Brief by a Writ of summons and Statement of Claim dated September 6, 2019 and filed during the lower Court’s 2019 annual vacation, Mr Adebayo Mumuni Shittu and More & S.A. More Limited instituted an action against Knight Rook Limited and Mr Lanre Olaoluwa respectively.
The court had held that “the cause of action by the respondents before the trial court, as can be garnered from record, is on the transaction between the 1st and 2nd Respondents and the 3rd and 4th Respondents which principally centres on sale of land on which the purported residence of the 1st and 2nd respondents stands.Â
“It is on record that the Respondent was said to have been allegedly locked out of his residence. It is on the strength of this that the learned trial judge exercised his judicial discretion restraining the 3rd and 4th respondents from any form of further restriction of the 1st and 2nd Respondents from his said house pending the determination of the substantive suit,” the court held.
The judgment further stated that, “A judicial discretion is said to be a science of understanding to discern between falsity and truth, between a shadow and substance, between equity and colourable glosses and preference, and not to do their wills and private affection.
“Wherefore, judicial discretion has been exercised bona fide as in the appeal at hand uninfluenced by irrelevant considerations and not arbitrary or illegally by the lower court, the general rule is that an Appeal Court will not ordinarily interfere,” the court ruled.
But a visit to the Victory Park Estate Estate on Thursday showed bulldozers at work, demolishing the buildings on the directive of AMCON but all attempts to speak with the officials proved abortive as the Supervisor on site refused to talk to the press and also declined in giving out the contact of their head/manager for a reaction on the development.
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