By Maureen Dick
A High Court of Rivers State sitting in Port Harcourt has awarded the total sum of N1.1billion against the Rivers State Government over the unlawful demolition and forceful taken over of landed property belonging to the residents of the waterfronts in Mile 1 and Mile 2 within Port Harcourt City Local Government Area of the state.
The residents of Egede, Urualla, Elechi phase one, Elechi Beach waterfront, Nanka, Ogwa waterfront, Okwelle, Soku waterside, among other waterfronts in the area whose property 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 judgement on the matter on Wednesday, the trial judge, Justice Sika Aprioku, ruled that counsel for the applicants were able to prove that Rivers State government actually violated the fundamental rights of the applicants in the suit by not notifying them before demolishing their property.
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 applicants have a right to share.
The court also criticized the government for not providing shelter for the applicants or pay compensation to them, instead government used the might of the police and thugs to demolish their property, chased away the applicants and forcefully took over the area for the purpose of building public place.
Justice Aprioku, therefore, ordered that the state government should pay the sum of N900 million to the applicants as cost of violation of their rights and N2 million as fine to the applicants in the suit.
Counsel for the applicants, Tonye Nigeria, who is a member of the Justice and Empowerment Initiative, in an interview with journalists, expressed happiness over the judgement, which, he said, will go along way in restoring the hope of victims who had been rendered homeless by the actions of the government.
Counsel from Rivers State Ministry of Justice, who represented Rivers State Government, declined comment on the judgement.