Eghiegbai Of Ekperi Kingdom, Alhaji Deke Kanoba, has decried what he referred to as desperate moves by Bishop Gabriel Dunia of Auchi Catholic Diocese to intimidate his person and the entire people of Ekperi Kingdom over the ownership of a piece of land occupied by the Assumption Catholic Church in Udaba-Ekperi.
Gatekeeper News reports that the traditional ruler said, one of his subjects, Ayegbeni-Peters Ajegba, a retired colonel, decided to develop Udaba community in Ekperi Kingdom by building a modern primary school, college and hospital in memory of his late parents, including rehabilitation of all the roads in the community.
“The bishop requested for the donation of the projects to the church, which did not go down well with Col Ayegbeni-Peters, who had initially wanted the Catholic church to run the schools and hospital on a five-year contract basis,” the monarch stated.
Bishop Dunia then took issue with the issuance of the land to the retired colonel and sued for the ownership of the piece of land in dispute.
The case, which was instituted in November 2021, was fixed for hearing of a motion for interlocutory injunction, led by the claimant, Bishop Dunia, on December 14, 2021. But the second defendant in the suit, who was misled and out of respect for the court, filed a notice of preliminary objections on the ground that he has been misled in the suit, urged the court to set aside the proceedings of November 25, 2021 until the proper records are before the court.
Moreover, upon being served with the preliminary objection, Bishop Dunia, acting through his counsel, Barrister Imuzai, could not respond to the said application on February 9, 2022, and was also conspicuously absent in court for the day’s proceedings.
The counsel to the defendants in the suit filed by Bishop Dunia, Barrister Patrick Ugheoke, leasing Barrister Mohammed Alli, informed the court of the pending application by way of a preliminary objection.
In a brief interview after the day’s proceedings, Ugheoke stated that the case before the court is about a title to the land where Assumption Catholic Church is situated, alleged to have been trespassed upon by Ajegba. He stated that the Supreme Court of Nigeria has laid down a procedure of land acquisition in Nigeria.
“They have to cross the hurdle as laid down by the Supreme Court in the case of Idundun against Okumagba which affirms ways of establishing title to land,” he said.
Discussing the day’s proceedings, Ugheoke said that the defendants were disputing an application by the claimants because a wrong title and name were attributed to the monarch.
He noted that the defense filed a preliminary objection to that effect in court.
“In their process which they filed here, they filed that they are suing His Royal Highness Ideke Kanoba, the Ijegba of Ekeperi. It is our contention that there is no place known and called Ekeperi and there is no title as Ijegba of Ekeperi,” Ugheoke said.
The attorney stated that the defense team argued that the proceedings could not continue until the title and name were corrected accordingly.
Mr Ugheoke also suggested that the claimants “dodged” coming to the court due to the objection the defense filed.
“Until they correct that thing [wrong title and name], the proceedings that was done before is a nullity. That is the preliminary objection which we filed. And that is probably why they are dodging from coming to court today.”
The defense attorney further said that the process has been served on the claimants but they have filed a counter, which they were not present to argue.
“That process has been served on them and we were ready to go on with that matter today but the court informed us that they filed a counter to that. Come to prove your counter, they are nowhere to be found.”
Ugheoke added that the case has been adjourned to February 28 for hearing of all the pending applications. He also mentioned that the defense team has filed new processes.
“Meanwhile, there are other processes we just filed. We filed our statement of defense to their claim. We also filed a counter-affidavit to their motion for interlocutory injunction. All those processes are already in the file. So that is the proceedings as at today,” he said.
Ugheoke stated that the defense is playing fair and do not want to ambush the claimants.
“We have to take them step by step, so that at the tail end of the day, they will not be crying foul when there is no need to cry. If you want to beat someone, we will beat the person hands down, so that they will know at the end of the day that there is no shortcut to the acquisition of land,” he said.
The defense attorney went on to note that all lands in Ekperi are vested on the Eghiegbai of Ekperi Kingdom.
“Meanwhile, all lands in Ekperi, as far as Ekperi is concerned, are vested on His Royal Highness, the Eghiegbai of Ekperi Kingdom, who appoints chiefs in all the villages to administer the land for and on his behalf,” he said.
Mr Ugheoke added that any land “purportedly done” without the approval of the monarch “is a nullity”.
While fielding questions from reporters, His Royal Highness Dyeke Kanoba, noted further that despite the fact that the suit is in court, Bishop Dunia is not relenting in his desperation to continue in his efforts to embarrass his person and the entire people of Ekperi Kingdom by inviting officers from the anti-cult unit of the Edo State Police command.
The monarch noted that these officers brought a letter of invitation to him to answer to a petition of criminal trespass on a land where the Catholic Church in Udaba is situated. The royal father expressed great displeasure on such development in a suit already pending before a court of competent jurisdiction.
Gatekeepers News made efforts to get a reaction from the Bishop but could not get through to him at the time of filling this report.
