BREAKING: Meatsellers sued over ‘illegal occupation’ at Ogbomoso new market
Khalid ABRAHAM
Events have taken a new turn at the newly opened butchers section of the Ogbomoso Ultramodern Market at LAUTECH area, along Ilorin road, Ogbomoso, as a company, J.A. Ladeji & Sons (Nig) Ltd., has claimed ownership of the land and wanting eviction of the “illegal occupiers.”
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To this end, the company has filed an originating summons for repossession of the parcel of land, whose size it puts at 1.875 hectares.
ogbomosoinsightonline.com reports that the butchers relocated to their section of the international market in the south eastern end on April 8, 2024, after an initial dilly-dallying to vacate their old site at Oja-Tuntun.
The new site has had some infrastructures put in place including abattoirs, lairage, pavilion for burning slaughtered animals, rows of stalls, access road and borehole.
In the originating summons, pursuant to Order 63 of the High Court of Oyo State ( Civil Procedure) Rules 2022, filed Thursday, May 2, by Prof I.O. Smith (SAN) and Kayode Bankole Esq of Smith & Bankole Legal Practitioners, 64 Adetokunbo Ademola Street, Victoria Island, Lagos, the plaintiff is seeking an urgent order of the court for it to recover possession of the said parcel of land, which it argues it validly owns.
The suit whose defendants are listed as “unknown persons,” nonetheless notes that “any person occupying the premises who is not named as a Defendant by this summons may apply to the Court personally to be joined as Defendant. If a person occupying the premises does not attend personally or by Legal Practitioner at the time and place above-mentioned, such order will be made as the court may think just and expedient.”
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In the affidavit in support of the originating summons, Adedeji Ololade, who is acting on behalf of the claimant, and who describes himself as the administrative manager in the plaintiff’s company and named one Akin Oladeji as the only surviving director of the company, in his deposition, affirms the company had exercised ownership on the disputed land for the past 42 years.
He claimed the encroachment was first brought to their notice recently, after some “physical construction” was discovered at the site even though the land was neither sold nor leased. He says however that the identities of the perpetrators could not be ascertained.
“The plaintiff does not know the persons who had encroached into the subject property by breaking the gate and gaining access into the subject property,” he submits.
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He therefore prays the court to enter “summary judgement” in favour of the plaintiff for the recovery of the land just as he wants the determination of the court on whether it has “satisfied the requirements of Order 63 of the High Court of Oyo State (Civil Procedures) Rules 2022 and are entitled to summary judgement for possession of the land in dispute.”
He argues this is imperative for the”expeditious disposal of claims which are virtually incontestable in the sense that the defendant has no valid defence.”
In its final submission, the plaintiff urges the court to grant its “application for possession pursuant to Order 63 of the Rules of this Honourable Court and the authorities cited in support thereof.”
