Court hears Alamieyeseigha’s land acquisition case

A Bayelsa State high court sitting in Yenagoa is hearing how late Governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha acquired 7.5 hectares of land belonging to the Adugotu family of Opolo, Yenagoa using an alleged phoney company, Pescal Nigeria Limited.
Findings indicate that at the current rate, the value of the land has shot up to well over N1bn.
The property is situated in a choice area of the state capital by the junction of Commissioners Quarters Road and Isaac Boro Expressway opposite the headquarters of the Joint Force, Operation Pulo Shield.

The plaintiffs, Obidiah Yakie, Omoya Lagumo and Diankume Lagumo for the Adugotu family of the Fambule Compound have dragged Pescal Nigeria Limited before Yenagoa High Court 6 presided over by Judge D.E. Adokeme.
Joined in the suit No. YHC/13/2015 were Governor of Bayelsa State, State Ministry of Lands and Survey, Yenagoa Capital City Development Authority and the Attorney-General of Bayelsa State.
The plaintiffs asked the court for declaration that the taking over of the land by the defendants and the allocation of same to PNL is not acquisition of the land for overriding public interest envisaged by law.
They are also seeking orders setting aside the taking over of the land by the defendants as unconstitutional, illegal, null and void.
They also prayed the court to declare the “purported allocation of the land by the second to sixth defendants to the first defendant (Pescal Nigeria Limited) as being unconstitutional, illegal, null and void.”
They further urged the court for an order of perpetual injunction restraining the defendants by themselves, their agents, servants and privies from disturbing the claimants in their use, ownership and possession of the land.
In a written statement on oath by one Diewulu Harold, he stated that a search at the Corporate Affairs Commission in Abuja revealed that Pescal Nigeria Limited is not registered or incorporated in Nigeria.
Harold also gave a historical background of the land in the written statement and said that the land was allocated to members of the family for building of homes and farming before it was taken over by the defendants.

He said, “Bayelsa State Government deceived the claimants’ family members that the land was needed for overriding public use by the Bayelsa State Government and paid for only the crops on the land without paying the claimants family members any form of compensation and took over the land.”