A landmark judgment has been delivered by a Rivers State High Court sitting in Port Harcourt, awarding a whopping N1.1bn against the Rivers State government.
The ruling comes after the government was found guilty of unlawfully demolishing and taking over landed properties belonging to residents of waterfront communities in the Port Harcourt City Local Government Area.
The affected residents, who had their properties demolished and taken over by the state government, had approached the court seeking justice and compensation for their losses.
The residents of Egede, Iruala, Elechi Phase One, Elechi Beach Waterfront, Nanka, Ogwu Waterfront, Okwele, and Soku Waterside, amongst other waterfronts in the area whose properties were demolished and taken over by the immediate past administration of Nyesom Wike, had in 2022 approached the court against the government over violations of fundamental human rights.
Delivering judgment on the matter, trial judge Justice Sika Aprioku ruled that counsel to the applicants was able to prove that the Rivers State government actually violated the fundamental rights of the applicants in the suit by not notifying them before demolishing their properties.
Justice Aprioku also held that the government was unable to prove that they actually purchased the land from the residents, who are the owners of the land, and did not consider that the applicants have a right to share.
The court also criticised the government for not providing shelter for the applicants or paying compensation to them, instead using the might of the police and thugs to demolish, chase away the applicants and forcefully take over the area to build a public place and have urban development.
Justice Aprioku therefore ordered that the state government should pay the sum of nine hundred million to the applicants as a cost of violation of their rights and two million naira as a fine to the applicants in the suit.
Counsel to the applicants, Tonye Igeri, who is a member of the Justice and Empowerment Initiative, interviewed with expressed happiness over the judgment, which he said will go a long way in restoring the hope of victims who have been rendered homeless by the actions of the government.
Counsel from the Rivers State Ministry of Justice who represented the Rivers State government, declined to comment on the judgment.
