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From Tony John, Port Harcourt
The Rivers State High Court, Port Harcourt, presided over by Justice Adolphus Enebeli has received final address and reply from the claimants and the defendants, respectively, in the civil suit No: PHC/158/CS/2022 brought against Dozzy Oil and Gas Limited and SunGreen Oil and Gas Limited (a sister company to Dozzy Oil and Gas Limited) by Cletus Ibeto.
At the resumed hearing, counsel for the defendants, Emmanuel Ukala, SAN, drew the attention of the court to the claimants’ final address, which bordered on a land dispute between the two parties.
Ukala, responding to the claimants’ final address dated March 17, 2023, noted that, under paragraph four, the claimants devoted substantial time and energy seeking to show that they had established their title over the land in dispute, citing several decisions of the court, which were not applicable in the circumstances of the present case. The claimants had made final submissions in paragraphs 4.1 to 4.3.7. Ukala continued that, in the present case, Exhibits 1, 31 and 47 purported to convey 22.6536 hectares, while Exhibit 51, a different version of the same document, converted 7.8 hectares.
Ukala further noted that the case of his client’s stated that the claimants had no title over the land in dispute (over 22 hectares); and that the title of the claimants was limited to 7.8 hectares, which the Claimants’ Witness One (CW1) maintained in several parts of his evidence quoted in a number of paragraphs in the Final Address of the claimants.
Ukala said the effect of what the claimants had done was in trespassing outside the area comprising the 7.8 hectares, which incidentally was the entire area in dispute in the case.
He, however, urged the court to discountenance all the arguments of the claimants based on the analysis he had given regarding the purchase of the land in dispute.
However, the claimants counsel, Henry Bello, who held brief for Onyechi Ikpeazu, SAN, told the court that his client filed a final address on March 17, 2023; and addressed all ethical issues raised, and urged the court to grant the claimants all the prayers.
The presiding judge, Justice Adolphus Enebeli, adjourned the case till March 29
