Dappa Maharajah.
AN Akure Magistrate Court has ordered the Olugele of Ugele community in Akure North Local Government Area of Ondo State, Oba Clement Aladegbaye Falodun to present his certificate of occupation to the court.
This was consequent upon the litigation against the monarch at the lower court and Appeal Court simultaneously over destruction of Federal Government properties worth N830 million.
Falodun appeared before the court on Wednesday on six count charges, which also included unlawful possession of Federal College of Agriculture, Akure (FECA) without obtaining Order and Writ of Possession.
The Magistrate, Mrs. A.I Ajayi, who gave the ruling that the court has jurisdiction on the case, however, granted the monarch bail on self recognition after he had pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
She ordered the accused person to furnish the court with a copy of the certificate confirming him as the Oba of Ugele and swear to the affidavit, attaching copies of photographs to the affidavit.
Meanwhile, the Court of Appeal in Akure, had dispelled all insinuations by the defendant that there was no appeal against the verdict, which dispossessed FECA more than half of its land.
This was against the Akure High Court judgment, Suit No: AK/279/2012 between the appellants: the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Abuja and FECA, while Oba Falodun, is the respondent.
Whereas, the Governor of Ondo State, Mr. Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (SAN) and the Deji of Akure, Oba Aladelusi Aladetoyinbo had condemned the respondent for trespassing on government land, warning that “no Oba is above imprisonment.”
Speaking with The Guardian after a session at the Appeal Court, Akure on Monday, the college lawyer, Mr. Segun Ogodo, said the argument by the opponents was aimed at shielding themselves from the cause of the law.
Ogodo stated that the college, in a Notice of Appeal filed on April 14, 2016, expressed its dissatisfaction against the Akure High Court judgment delivered by Justice A.O Adebusoye on November 27, 2014.
According to him, the Ground 29 of the appeal stipulated that the judgment of the lower court is against the weight of evidence, seeking three reliefs from the Court of Appeal.
“An order striking out the entire suit upon the success of grounds 1-5 of appeal challenging the jurisdiction of the lower court to entertain the suit. An order allowing this appeal and an order setting aside the judgment of the lower court,” the Notice of Appeal partly stated.
Though the Appeal Court did not sit, the Registrar of the Court, Mr. Raphael Aje, announced that the case has been adjourned to January 8, 2018.
Ogodo, who expressed high confidence in the judiciary on the appeal Suit No: CA/AK/199/2016, dismissed the allegations that there was no subsisting appeal against the judgment, saying they were spurious.
“It stands to reason that a case that is not pending cannot be adjourned, you can’t adjourn what does not exist. It is a ruse from the opponents,” he said.
Earlier, a counsel from the state Ministry of Justice, Mr. Alaba Ogunyemi, announced his appearance to take over the case at the Magistrate Court. He applied for the substitution of the old charge MAK/259C/2017 with a new one MAK/241C/2017.
Ogunyemi noted that there are five witnesses and three of them were in the court, but prayed the court for adjournment to allow him study the case file and assemble his witnesses in court.
But the counsel to the defendant, Mr. Dapo Agbede argued against adjournment, urging the court to admit the defendant bail on a liberal term and on personal recognition.
The lower court ordered that the status quo should remain on the land by the parties pending the determination of the case for definite hearing on August 14 and 15, 2017.
