Nasarawa State High Court 2 presided over by Justice Aisha B. Aliyu
has fixed 25th September, 2018 for continuation of hearing in a case
filed by one Alhaji Abubakar Gambo seeking to restrain the Nasarawa
state Government, its agents or privies from trespassing on their
lands measuring 302.17 hectares compulsorily acquired by the state
government and granted to Dangote Group for establishment of a Sugar
Company.
It would be recalled that last month Barristers J.E Agbo and M.A Sambo
on behalf of Alhaji Abubakar Gambo Filed a case seeking the court to
stop the defendants which include Nasarawa State Government and
Dangote Nasarawa Sugar Company Limited, from trespassing, off-loading
heavy duty equipments and doing anything on the lands pending the
hearing and the determination of the substantive suit.
The lawyers in their submission sought the following reliefs from the
court for their client: cancellation or quashing of all the interest
purportedly granted Dangote Nasarawa Sugar Company Limited by the
Nasarawa State Government over the lands in question, for not
following due process of the Law in acquiring them; payment of
adequate compensation or fair value of the lands in the sum of N142,
874, 000.00; N200, 000,000 as aggravated damages for the trespass on
their clients lands.
The case which came up today May 15, 2018 for first hearing on the
application for the interlocutory injunction sought by the plaintiff’s
lawyers was adjourned to May 23, 2018 following inability of the
defence counsels to respond on time.
It would be recalled that sometime ago, the Gambo family wrote a
letter to the Governor of Nasarawa state dated 8th January, 2018
through J. E Agbo Associates demanding for payment of N142,874,000 as
compensation for 302.17 hectares of lands acquired by the state
government and granted to Dangote for purpose of setting up a Sugar
Company.
They claimed that the N25, 000 paid by the state government for each
hectare was grossly inadequate and against the relevant laws on
compensation of lands in Nasarawa state. They further averred that
each hectare of land is sold for between N100, 000 and N120, 000
depending on the location.
The plaintiff also claimed that only N3, 375,000 was given to them
through the head of the family in the person of Alhaji Abubakar Gambo
as total compensation for the 302.17 hectares of land.