The Court of Appeal in Abuja has granted leave to former Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon, and others to challenge the judgment of a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in the Barewa Old Boys Association (BOBA) land dispute.
The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Saad Abubakar III, who is also a member of BOBA, along with the school’s alumni association, is challenging the lower court’s judgment.
The court also dismissed a preliminary objection filed by Eagle Aluminium Industries Limited, which sought to prevent BOBA from filing a cross-appeal.
In a unanimous ruling, a three-member panel of the appellate court held that Eagle Aluminium’s objection constituted an abuse of court process.
Justice Peter Chudi Obiorah, who delivered the ruling, stated that the objection was preemptive and presumptuous, as it violated court rules.
_“There is no provision in the Court of Appeal Rules, 2021, that allows a party served with a motion on notice to oppose the application by filing a preliminary objection.
Parties are not allowed to invent their own rules at their whims and caprices,”_ the judge said.
The ruling was endorsed by Justice Hamma Akawu Barka and Justice Ishaq Mohammed Sani.
The disputed land, held in trust by the Gen. Gowon-led Board of Trustees (BoT), was reallocated to Haida Properties in 2007. However, in 2009, the same plot was reallocated to Eagle Aluminium, owned by Mr. Linus Ukachukwu, without the knowledge of BOBA’s BoT.
With this ruling, the alumni body will now join Eagle Aluminium Ltd., the Minister of the FCT, and the FCTA in challenging the December 2020 judgment, which conferred ownership of the 6,500-square-meter disputed land on Haida Properties Limited.
The Court of Appeal had previously declined to endorse a bilateral settlement agreement between Eagle Aluminium and Haida Properties to jointly develop the land, stating that the agreement did not include other parties involved in the dispute.
Additionally, BOBA—represented by Gowon, the Sultan of Sokoto, and retired Justice Lawal Uwais on its BoT—has filed a petition against lawyer Stella Oyiugo at the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee, alleging that she represented the association in court without authorization.
The Inspector-General of Police has also filed criminal charges against suspects implicated in an investigation report on the land deal, though they have yet to be arraigned.
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