Court Restrains Oborevwori, Attorney-General in Ekpan Land Dispute

A Delta State High Court in the Ekpan Judicial Division has issued an interim injunction halting activities on a disputed parcel of land in Ekpan, Uvwie Local Government Area. The order restrains Governor Sheriff Oborevwori, the state’s Attorney-General, and Dr. Kennedy Omonuwa of the late Vincent Onome Omonuwa’s family from taking further action on the property.

The ruling, delivered by Justice Michael Nduka Obi on August 7, followed an ex parte motion filed by Chief Mathias Ote and Samuel Akpomejeme on behalf of the Akpomejeme family. The court barred the defendants and their agents from tampering with, renovating, or carrying out any form of development on the family’s bungalow and surrounding Egbesaba land along Refinery Road, opposite the Nigerian Navy, pending the hearing of a motion on notice scheduled for August 18.

The court’s directive also prohibits the construction of new structures or fences that could alter the state of the property until the substantive matter is heard. The judge granted the application in view of what was described as urgent circumstances in the affidavit of urgency.

However, the claimants’ counsel, C. U. Umode Esq., alleged in a statement on August 10 that workers suspected to be linked to the government were seen on the site the previous day, in defiance of the court order. He vowed to pursue further legal action to address what he called “oppression, disobedience to court orders, and injustice” by those involved.