A Benue State High Court sitting in Makurdi, on Wednesday, October 18, 2023, struck out the suit filed by a former governor of the State, Mr. Samuel Ortom and his deputy, Benson Abounu seeking to limit the exercise of the constitutional powers of Governor Hyacinth Alia.
The Court held that the suit filed with number No: MHC/199/2023, by Ortom and Abounu against the Governor and Government of Benue State was speculative thus, dismissed it.
The plaintiffs were challenging the alleged retrieval of vehicles and properties which they claimed were donated to them by the State Executive Council shortly before their handover date on May 29, 2023.
They alleged that such action of retrieval was a constitutional affront to their collective right to ownership of property legally and legitimately vested in them.
However, counsel to the Government of Benue State, the Governor of Benue State and the Chairman of the Assets Recovery Committee, Mohammed Ndarani, SAN, who appeared with Vershima Akaangee and Raphael Ashwe raised a Notice of Preliminary Objection challenging the jurisdiction of the court to entertain, hear and determine the suit on the grounds that it was speculative.
Ndarani also told the court that the plaintiffs failed to give the identity of the cars and properties allegedly taken from them, stressing that the suit sought to limit the proper exercise of the executive powers of the governor to appoint appropriate committees to help in the administration of the state.
Ndarani said the terms of reference of the committee to decipher the extent of their powers and to help determine whether the committee had overlapped its authority were not before the court, adding that the committee was also not shown to have completed its work to conclusively establish whether they had permanently taken custody of any vehicles, or for investigative purpose.
He told the court that temporary taking over of the custody of vehicles is allowed under the constitution, adding that if such frivolous suits were allowed to linger, development would be greatly hampered across the country.
In his own submission, Douglas Pepe, SAN, who appeared with Paul Sule maintained that, the Plaintiffs’ cause of action was potent and alleged that over 32 vehicles donated to the Plaintiffs by the Benue State Executive Council before they left office on May 29, 2023 had been taken custody of by the defendants, which was an affront to their right to ownership of property.
Delivering his judgement, Justice Theresa Igoche upheld the preliminary objection of the defendants on two major grounds of being speculative for failing to establish a cause of action and that the suit indeed sought to delimit the constitutional powers of the defendants as donated unto them by Section 5(2) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The trial judge accordingly, struck out the suit.
