(The NATION) RIVERS STATE COMMISSIONER for Agriculture, Mr. Chindah Emmanuel, and the Civil Liberties Organisation in Rivers have differed on the outcome of Tuesday’s ruling by a Federal High Court on the legal battle over the government’s seizure of some Ogoni community lands for a banana plantation project.
The case was instituted by civil society groups, led by the Social and Economic Rights Actions Centre, on behalf of affected communities, to stop the takeover of the lands, saying it amounted to abuse of human rights the manner the authorities were going about it.
The presiding Judge, Justice Lambo Akambi, in a ruling on the preliminary objection in the matter, said the court lacked jurisdiction to entertain matters on titles over land.
Reacting to the ruling, the Commissioner for Agriculture described the court’s decision as a victory for all Rivers people and a boost for agricultural development in the State.
Mr. Chindah said the state was never in court with the Ogoni landowners, but that those who went to court were “interlopers”, who were determined to derail the good intentions of the government for reasons not in the interest of the people.
But in his own reaction to the judgment, Chairman of CLO in the State, Mr. Obodoekwe Styvin, said the development does not change anything in the determination to stop the seizure of lands surviving the original owners and local peasant farmers to reward Mexican banana farming investors.
Obodoekwe, in a telephone chat with Nation Evening Express, said that “the court only refused jurisdiction. The merits of the matter have not been heard. All we need do is appeal the judgment or proceed to a court with jurisdiction. It is not over yet.”
He said it was unfortunate that the Federal High Court weighed the issue from the point of land title-ship rather than the critical angle of gross human rights abuse against the land owners.
Source: Ogoninews.com
