A Federal High Court in Lagos has dismissed a suit filed by motor spare parts traders under the auspices of Soya Iya Market Association against the Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) to contest their forceful eviction from the place of business situated under Ijora bridge in Lagos.
The traders had filed the suit pursuant to Fundamental Human Rights Enforcement Rules, accusing the agency of the Lagos State Government of forcefully evicting them from their place of business.
The traders had accused the respondents of breaching their fundamental rights by forcefully evicting them from the said place, and destroying their goods estimated at N10 million in the process.
The traders had equally contended that the land in question was given to them by the agencies of Federal Government, and so, it was unlawful for the Lagos State Government to forcefully evict them from the land.
Some of the traders namely Audu Yakubu, Aminu Sokoto, Sulaiman Bala and Mustapha Abubakar were also arrested and arraigned before a Special Offence Court set up by the state government on trumped up charges.
The traders further alleged that the respondents were in the process of erecting new structures on the land.
Irked by the development, the traders filed the suit to protect their fundamental rights as guaranteed under the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
They had specifically sought an order declaring the action of the respondents in displacing them from the land as illegal and unlawful.
They had also sought for an order declaring the breach of their fundamental human rights by the respondents as unconstitutional, unwarranted and illegal.
Besides, the traders had also asked the court for an order awarding N20 million damages against the respondents in their favour for the breach of their rights and inconveniences they suffered as a result of the action of the respondents.
But Justice Okon Abang, in his judgment, held that the principal claim of the plaintiffs (traders) was a declaration that the action of the respondents in displacing them from their land under the bridge in Ijora given to them by the agencies of Federal Government was unlawful.
“To my mind, the plaintiffs are claiming ownership of the land in issue. The arrest and torture of the plaintiffs arose out of the principal issue which is their eviction from the land.
“Land as a subject is not one of the fundamental rights recognised under Section 4 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended). Section 46 (1) of the Constitution is solely confined to fundamental human rights suit.
“This suit ought to have been filed before a Lagos State High Court and not before a Federal High Court.
“I have no jurisdiction to adjudicate on the principal claim and on that basis, I cannot look into the ancillary claims as well.
“This suit is incompetent as I have no jurisdiction to adjudicate on it,” Justice Abang ruled.
source: dailyindependent
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