Ilorin
Justice Abiodun Adebara of Kwara State High Court, sitting in Ilorin has fixed March 25, 2020 for the hearing of the suit challenging the Kwara State Government revocation of the land belonging to the late Dr Olusola Saraki, one time strong man of Kwara politics.
Duaglobalnews reports that the development follows the collapse of the peace talks that would have led to amicable resolution of the disputed land on which the Ile Arugbo was built,
Adebara had at the last sitting of the court on January 24 , 2020, advised the parties involved in the case,Asa Investment limited and Kwara State Governmen, to employ dialogue in resolving the issue, in the interest of peace and harmony.
Counsel to the claimants and the defendants had held reconciliation meetings on February 6 and 11 at the Governor’s office, Ilorin but with non avail.
The counsel to the Asa Investment Limited, AbdulAziz Ibrahim and that of the state government, Salman Jawondo, who is also the state’s Attorney-General on Monday, told the court that the peace talks collapsed over irreconcilable differences on the terms of amicable settlement of the dispute.
Ibrahim listed his client’s terms of settlement to include “the reversal of the revocation order placed on the disputed land, reconstruction of the partially demolished structures on the land and offering of apology to the aged women that were harassed on the night when the structures were pulled down.”
He said the state government’s only term of settlement was the insistence that the revocation order placed on the disputed land stood because of public interest.
The counsel, however, expressed the readiness of his clients to for the second and third demands in the interest of peace.
For his part, the counsel to the state government, Jawondo said the peace talks collapsed “when the claimants came out, frontally, that their demand for the reversal of the revocation order placed on the disputed land was not negotiable.”
Jawondo, therefore, sought for an adjournment for a proper hearing of the suit.
After listening to the arguments and counter arguments by the counsel to the claimants and the defendants, Adebara commended both parties and their counsel for meeting twice in their attempts to find amicable resolution to the crisis, as advised by the court.
He advised them to still forge ahead on an amicable resolution of the dispute.
” However, since the two parties had not been able to reach an amicable resolution of the dispute, the suit ought to continue and it is in this regard that the court will grant an adjournment for hearing.
” I hereby adjourn the case till March 25,2020 for hearing, ” Adebara ruled.
