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From TONY JOHN, Port Harcourt
Further hearing on the civil suit brought against Dozzy Oil and Gas Limited and SunGreen Oil and Gas Limited by Cletus Ibeto and his company, over ownership of disputed land, continued at the Rivers State High Court, Port Harcourt, presided by Justice Adolphus Enebeli, with the Registrar of Titles, Ministry of Lands and Survey Rivers State, Mr. Sylvanus Nwakpila, and The Company Secretary and Solicitor of Dozzy Oil & Gas Limited and Sungreen Oil and Gas Limited, Mr. Ike Onwuchuluba.
Mr. Nwakpila had in his witness deposition, which he adopted, also tendered the correct Land Registry copy of the Deed of Sub-lease registered as NO.47/47/280 in the Rivers State Lands Registry, which showed that Ibeto Energy Development Company Limited was granted a sub-lease of approximately 7.8 hectares of land by Odoh Holdings Limited, contrary to his claim that his company was granted a sub-lease of approximately 22.8 hectares of land at Niteco Shipyard Area, Reclamation 11 Layout.
Mr. Nwakpila had under cross-examination by Henry Bello, for Ibeto stated that a lessee cannot acquire more land than his head lessor through which it derived its title. The witness also stated that the certification he made on the document submitted by Ibeto was in error, and which was detected when the Deeds Registry was reviewing its response to an inquiry from EFCC on the said title documents and the same became invalidated on account of such discovery.
The witness further discountenanced the survey plan presented by Chief Ibeto, which referred to the location of the disputed land as Bundu Ama community, asserting that the correct nomenclature of the location of the land is NITECO Shipyard Area, Reclamation 11 Layout and that the Rivers State Government leased the disputed land to NITECO. The Registrar of Deeds also confirmed the existence of a Deed of Assignment between Sungreen and NITECO in the records of the Lands Registry.
Also, the second witness, Mr. Onwuchuluba, who was led in evidence by Mr. Emmanuel Ukala, SAN, testified having adopted his witness statements on oath, confirming that the Defendants/Counter Claimants, Sungreen Oil and Gas Limited acquired a total of 122 hectares of land from Niteco, when it discovered that Chief Ibeto had no title to substantial parts of the land he sought to sell to the defendants ,after collecting the sum of N3, 295,000,000 and $3000,000.00- being an outstanding debt owed the Defendants by Chief Ibeto, which was agreed should be applied as additional payment for the land. The witness stated that the 3rd Defendant approached NITECO to acquire the land for its business purposes when it discovered that Chief Ibeto does not have any title to a substantial portion of the land he negotiated to sale to the Defendants and was unable to explain the discrepancies observed in his title.
Under cross examination by Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN), Mr. Onwuchuluba explained that the land the Defendants bought from NITECO was different from the one contained in the 40 acres sub-leased to Nigeria Shipbuilders Limited, the head lessor of Ibeto Energy Development Limited. When asked to confirm if Chief Cletus Ibeto is listed as a director or shareholder of Ardeja Trading Limited, where the $3,000, 000.00 was paid into, the witness stated that the said Ardeja account is the account in which Chief Ibeto instructed the Defendants to transfer the said $3,000, 000 which he borrowed from the Defendants. The witness went further to state that the initial $3000, 000 which Chief Ibeto admitted to have received and repaid to Dozzy Oil in Naira denomination was equally paid to the same Ardeja Trading Limited account. The witness further stated that the sum of N3, 295,000,000 which Chief Ibeto admitted on oath to have also received from Dozzy were also paid into companies accounts where Chief Ibeto is neither listed as shareholder nor director, despite that, Sir Daniel Chukwudozie paid the funds into those non linked accounts to Chief Cletus Ibeto based on the trust and the friendly relationship he had with Chief Ibeto.
The matter was adjourned to March 20, 2023 for adoption of written addresses.
