An Oyo State High Court sitting in Ibadan, the state capital, has restrained the immediate past governor of the state, Mr. Abiola Ajimobi and his successor, Mr. Seyi Makinde from going or visiting a landed property belonging to the former governor.
The land in dispute was recently revoked by the current administration in the state under Mr. Makinde.
Ajimobi, shortly after the land was revoked, dragged Makinde to court over the revocation of the landed property at Agodi Government Reservation Area (GRA), Ibadan.
Also sued alongside the governor are the State Attorney General, the Commissioner for Lands, Housing and Urban Development and the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development.
The former governor is also claiming the sum of N15 million from the defendants being cost of the action, including the expenses incurred to file each of the cases, and his attorney’s professional fees.
DAILY POST gathered that the the lawsuit was filed on Wednesday, 12th of February at the High Court of Justice of Oyo State in the Ibadan Judicial Division, by a former Attorney General of the State, Mutalubi Ojo Adebayo.
The matter involves the revocation of a property owned by Ajimobi in Agodi, Government Reservation Area (GRA), Ibadan, to which the former governor has filed four suits numbered; I/183/2020, I/184/2020, I/185/2020 and I/186/2020 at the State High Court.
Ajimobi in the document before the court is contesting the basis of the notice which was sent by the state government on the 31st of January, 2020.
But, the Chief Judge of the state, Justice Munta Abimbola, while presiding over the case, restrained the duo of Ajimobi and Makinde from going or visiting the landed property pending the time when the case would be determined.
Abimbola gave the order following the inability of the court to hear a Motion on Notice for interlocutory injunction filed by Ajimobi cousel, Mr. Kazeem Gbadamosi due to the failure of the counsel to the Oyo State government, Mr. Nathaniel Oke, to respond to the motion on time.
At the resumed hearing of the case on Monday, counsel to the state government filed a motion seeking for an extension of time to respond to the application filed by the former governor.
Gbadamosi raised no objection to the motion for extension of time but, however, asked the court to order that status quo be maintained on the land, adding that the status quo as at February 13 when he filed the motion was that the land belonged to the former governor.
This submission did not go down well with the counsel to the state government who argued that the status quo as at the time the application was filed was the revocation of the land which he stated was revoked on February 10 while the former governor’s application was filed on February 13.
Abimbola then ordered the counsel to advise their clients not go to or take any action on the said land pending the determination of the pending motion.
He further ordered the counsel to the state government to file the defence within 10 days and that the petitioner must respond within seven days of being served the response.
Abimbola then adjourned the matter till March 30 for all parties to file all the necessary papers before the court.
