Not less
than three pastors of the Redeemed Christian Church of God risks jail term.
Here are
the details
The
United Bank for Africa Co-operative Multipurpose Society Limited has commenced
a contempt proceeding against the Registered Trustees of the Redeemed Christian
Church of God for allegedly disobeying an order of the court.
The cooperative society, on Tuesday, served the RCCG trustees
with Form 48.
Form 48 is served on any party, who fails to obey an order given
by a court of law. If found guilty of treating the court with contempt, such an
individual or group is liable to being committed to jail.
Listed as the alleged contemnors, who risk being jailed, are
Pastor Peter Adeyemi, Pastor Akanni Babawande, Chief Babatunde Ojelade and
others.
The UBA cooperative society had sued the Registered Trustees of
RCCG, alleging unlawful invasion of its land with Survey Plan No.
OG/854/2013/60.
The land, measuring about 30 acres, is located at Ewu Odofin
Village in the Sagamu Local Government Area of Ogun State.
The UBA cooperative society had, on April 1, 2015, secured an
order of interim injunction from an Ogun State High Court in Sagamu, stopping
every form of construction on the said land under dispute.
The presiding judge, Justice E.O. Osinuga, had restrained the
RCCG trustees from further going ahead with their on-going project on the land
till the issues in the lawsuit, marked HCS/01/2015, would be resolved.
Lawyer for the cooperative society, Mr. Yemi Omodele, however,
claimed that in defiance to the order of the court, the defendants had
continued to build on the land.
In its statement, the cooperative society claimed to have
purchased the said land from the Olowoto-Olisa chieftaincy family of Ewu-Odofin
Village, pursuant to a deed of assignment dated December 12, 2014.
It, however, alleged that agents of the defendant, sometime last
year, unlawfully invaded the site and demolished, among other things, the
perimeter fence, security house, 10 buildings under construction, three
boreholes, and water tanks, all estimated at N30.6m, belonging to members of
the cooperative society.
In its papers before the court, the claimant said it was not
aware of any existing dispute over the land before purchasing it last year,
adding that a preliminary check it conducted at the Ogun State Lands Registry
in Abeokuta, before making payment, showed that the land belonged to the
Olowoto-Olisa chieftaincy family.
The claimant’s lawyer, Omodele, is contending that the alleged
demolition of his clients’ property was unlawful and done in bad faith and
asked the court to declare same as illegal and unconstitutional.
He had sought a declaration of the court that his client was the
legitimate owner of the land.
The claimant further sought an order of the court compelling the
defendant to restore the demolished property and pay damages in the sum of
N150m.
While making the interlocutory injunction, restraining RCCG from
going ahead with any construction work on the land, the judge, Osinuga, noted
that though the church was served with all the court papers, it however failed
to respond or enter any appearance in court.
But the court said it would not go into the merit of the case.
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