No nation or society can enjoy safety, progress and stability where the rule of law is replaced with whim and caprices of the mighty and court orders are disdained, disobeyed and rubbished
Some traders have appealed to the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Mr Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, to as a matter of urgency stop the Urban Shelter Limited from carrying out construction work in furtherance of the planned remodeling of the Area 7 Shopping Complex, Abuja.
Counsel to the traders, Mr Chukwuma-Machukwu Ume SAN, in a letter addressed to the AGF through his law firm, chronicled the traders’ plight in the hands of the company, which he alleged unlawfully demolished the complex against subsisting court orders.
The latter came on the heals of a fresh order of a High Court in Abuja, restraining the Urban Shelter Limited from going ahead with any allocation of shops to any person either in the form of reservation of temporary shop space for both verified and non-verified operators in the form of permanent shops to be built at the Area 7 Shopping Complex.
Justice O.I. Adeleja, in a fresh interim order dated Aug. 24, had restrained the I-G, listed as the 6th defendant, from further providing official protection to Urban Shelter Limited (5th defendant), or any other person carrying out any work on the controversial site.
Others listed in the motion marked: FCT/HC/M/12457/2023 are the Minister of FCT, Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA); Abuja Markets Management Limited; Abuja Investment Company Limited and Obinna Okolie.
The letter dated Sept. 14 and received same day by the registry of the AGF, specifically accused the I-G of blatant disobedience to the orders of the court dated Dec. 1, 2021 and Aug. 24, urging the AGF to stem the ugly tide and ensure that the I-G enforces these court orders.
They urged the AGF to bring “a complete and comprehensive new phase in the enthronement of the rule of law and obedience to court orders in the country.
Ume said: “No nation or society can enjoy safety, progress and stability where the rule of law is replaced with whim and caprices of the mighty and court orders are disdained, disobeyed and rubbished.”
According to him, to allow court orders to be disobeyed would be to tread the road toward anarchy.
The senior lawyer lamented that rather than enforce the orders of court arising from the multiple suits, “the police took steps to disobey same just to protect the unbridled, illegal and selfish interest of a private concern.”(NAN)
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