On Wednesday, the Benue State government won the support of a high court to take back 32 vehicles that had been given to the outgoing governor, Samuel Ortom, and his deputy, Benson Abounu, before they took office.
According to Gistlover, Benue State High Court Justice Theresa Igoche, sitting in Makurdi, ruled yesterday that the state’s executive branch has the authority to remove the aforementioned vehicles.
Justice Igoche dismissed the lawsuit brought by Ortom and his deputy, Abounu, against Governor Alia on the grounds that it was speculative and sought to restrict the governor’s use of his constitutional powers.
Ortom and Abounu filed a lawsuit under the number MHC/199/2023 to contest the alleged recovery of 32 vehicles and properties that the Benue State Executive Council is alleged to have given to them and their cabinet members before they left office in May.
The two claimed that this action of retrieval was an assault on their collective right to ownership of property that was rightfully and legally given to them.
According to a statement released by the Government House on Wednesday, Governor Alia and Mohammed Ndarani (SAN), who appeared with Vershima Akaangee and Raphael Ashwe as the state government’s attorneys, raised and argued a Notice of Preliminary Objection challenging the court’s jurisdiction to entertain, hear, and decide the suit on the grounds that it was speculative.
Ndarani stated in the statement that the lawsuit omitted to identify the cars and other assets that were allegedly taken from the plaintiffs.
The governor’s ability to appoint the proper committees to aid in the administration of the state, he said, was one of the other objectives of the lawsuit.
Ndarani further argued that the committee’s terms of reference, which were supposed to clarify the scope of their authority and show whether they had exceeded it, were not on file with the court.
The temporary taking of custody of vehicles for investigative purposes is permitted by the constitution, the speaker claimed, adding that the committee was also not shown to have finished its work to establish conclusively whether they had permanently taken custody of any vehicles.
Ndarani emphasized that the development of the entire nation would be severely hampered if such “frivolous” lawsuits were allowed to drag on.
However, the plaintiffs’ attorney, Douglas Pepe (SAN), who appeared alongside Paul Sule, insisted that the plaintiffs’ cause of action was strong.
Pepe further argued that the government of Governor Alia had taken possession of more than 32 vehicles that had been given to the plaintiffs by the Benue State Executive Council before they left office on May 29. The lawyer claimed that this was an affront to the plaintiffs’ right to property ownership.
According to the statement obtained by SaharaReporters, the court “Upheld the preliminary objection of the Defendants on two major grounds, namely, that the suit was speculative for failing to establish a cause of action and that the suit indeed sought to delimit the constitutional powers of the Defendants as donated unto them by Section 5(2) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. That’s why she dismissed the case. “.