From Godwin Tsa, Abuja
Human rights lawyers have condemned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over the criminalization of a land dispute with the issuance of a bench warrant by a Lagos High Court in Ikeja against a Nigerian industrialist, Cletus Ibeto.
The lawyers under the
International Human Rights Protection Initiative (INHURPI) called for the intervention of relevant authorities to stop the campaign of calumny and the use of the apparatus of the EFCC to harass and tarnish the character of the industrialist.
In a statement signed by the organization’s executive director, Samuel Nwadigo; and other officers, Aseikomo Oteiku, Stephen Ogbe, and Peter Ugwoke, it said it observed with dismay the resort to criminal prosecution through the latest bench warrant issued on November 3 in total disregard of the subsisting court order, which confirmed Chief Ibeto’s ownership of the land in dispute and ordered Chukwudozie or anybody acting on his behalf from interfering in the land.
The lawyers said a comprehensive understanding of the case reveals that Sir Daniel Chukwudozie’s attempt to portray the matter as a criminal matter is both misleading and devoid of merit.
They said the certified true copies of the documents made available to them show that sometime between 2016 and 2017, Sir Daniel Chukwudozie reached an agreement with Chief Ibeto to purchase a portion of his land located in Port-Harcourt, Rivers State, and made partial payments for 18 months, yet could not pay up to half of the agreed total amount of the purchase price of the land before the disagreement.
However, following a disagreement over the terms of the lease, a Rivers State High Court in a judgment on March 29, 2023, declared Ibeto Energy Development Limited as the rightful owner of the land and that Chief Ibeto is entitled to the statutory right of occupancy and has been in unchallenged possession of the property since 2007, and ordered Chukwudozie not to trespass.
The lawyers said rather than comply with the court order or conclude his pending appeals in the matter, Chukwudozie petitioned the EFCC, which filed a 10-count charge of N4.8 billion fraud against Ibeto outside the jurisdiction of the matter.
The lawyers said they “stand firmly in support of Chief Dr Cletus Ibeto, an industrious and impeccable character, and our organization believes in the protection of human rights and sanctity of sound judicial system that is devoid of corruption and forum shopping like in the instant case.
“We the organization, shall continue to follow the case to ensure that justice is done because there is no basis for turning civil case into criminal case against an unblemished and highly respected Nigerian senior citizen to tarnish his image unjustly,” the statement reads.