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A Suit instituted by a Chief Registrar of a Federal High Court against the Minister Of Housing and Urban Development and two other defenders over the sale of the official residence of the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court in Lagos, Justice Mustapha Abdullahi, has taken a dramatic turn.
This follows the claim by the former governor of Cross River State, Donald Duke, that he is the buyer of the N555 million property.
In a letter dated 27 March, 2008, sent to the occupier of No. 1, Temple Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, which is the chief judge, the tenant was asked to vacate the gigantic property before the end of April 2008.
In the letter, the ex-governor said a right to the property was granted him via the certificate of occupancy in August 2006 and “because of the exigencies of my public service, I was unable to take possession of the said property earlier.”
However, section 16 of the approved guideline for the sale of Federal Government properties in Lagos, states that for special, diplomatic or statutory reasons, the following properties shall be exempted from sale: State House Dodan Barracks, vice president’s Guest house, houses occupied by Federal judges that are based in Lagos, properties excluded from sale by government directly, properties approved for development, properties allocated to the African Union and currently in use, and properties allocated to the United Nations agencies and are currently in use.
Meanwhile, the lawyer to the plaintiff, Mr. Chris Ekelezie is urging the Federal High Court sitting in Laos to join the former governor, Donald Duke as a defendant alongside the Attorney-General of the Federation, implementation committee for the sale of federal government properties in Lagos and Minister of Housing and Urban Development.
The schedule of the property was given to the former governor on 25 May, 2007, two days to the expiration of his tenure at the rate of N555 million in a document signed by Chief (Mrs.) Helen U. Esuene.
