In Oyo State High Court
has granted Ibadan-based tourism expert and businessman,
Prince Isaac Caution Preboyes, out-of-court settlement in a
seven-year old legal suit in which he had been struggling to
save his expansive estate at Agbowo, Ibadan, from being
demolished by the Oyo state government.
Reprieve came his way as
the High Court granted an out-of-court settlement application
brought by him and the state government.
It will be recalled that
the administration of former Governor Lam Adesina in 2001 had
alleged that part of the location of Prince Preboyes’ estate
close to the University of Ibadan (UI) violated the Town
Planning regulations, and so should be demolished.
Prince Preboyes, in his
eagerness to save the estate (which has been serving many of
the students of the institution in terms of accommodation and
social services) from being demolished, commenced litigation
at the court.
In the suit marked
I/757/2001, Prince Preboyes, operating under the business name
‘Rural Development Nigeria Limited’, had dragged the Governor
of Oyo state, Attorney General of Oyo state, Commissioner for
Lands, Housing and Survey, Oyo state, and the Director of Town
Planning, Oyo state before series of Oyo state courts, asking
for order restraining the government from bulldozing his
estate.
The legal luminary and
Aare Baamofin of Yorubaland, Chief Afe Babalola (SAN),
had represented Preboyes (whose father is Ijaw and mother
Ibadan-born) for a number of years, before Mr. Edema Femi
Jarret, took it over.
Seven years after, the
two parties resolved to settle out of court and Justice
Olajumoke Aiki of the Iyaganku High Court 17 in her ruling on
Thursday adopted the consenting terms of settlement as her
judgment.
While Edema presented
the terms of settlement before the judge, the state government
counsel, Mr. Sola Orobode from the Ministry of Justice,
concurred, asking the judge to adopt it as judgment of the
court.
Reacting to the
judgment, Prince Preboyes told newsmen that the experience had
been so harrowing, as many of his tenants for over seven years
have refused to pay for their rent on the fear and guise that
the place might be demolished anytime.
But he expressed
appreciation to Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala and the Ministries
concerned for abating his ordeals, saying that "this singular
act is a demonstration of the fact that the present
administration is alive to the need to allow small and medium
scale entrepreneurs to thrive in the state for the
socio-economic benefit of the organisations and the entire
people living in it, irrespective of state of origin.
The terms of settlement
read in part, that ".a Certificate of Statutory Right of
occupancy shall be issued in favour of the plaintiff covering
the land in dispute and which shall be in addition to the land
already covered by Certificate of Statutory Right of Occupancy
dated 6/9/91 and registered as No. 8 at page 8 in Volume 3029
of the lands Registry at Ibadan, earlier issued in favour of
the plaintiff;
"That the payment of the
sum of N1, 071, 320. 00 already made by the plaintiffs to the
third defendant (Commissioner for Lands, Housing and Survey)
in respect of the area in dispute be taken into cognisance and
used to offset part of whatever statutory fees that may be
determined by the state government upon completion of survey
works on the area in dispute; that the receipts for the
aforementioned payments made, be allowed to be submitted and
filed in the company’s lease file with the Ministry; and
