A State High Court sitting in Owerri, the capital of Imo State, has temporarily restrained the Imo State government from demolishing structures at the Central Market Layout, Owerri.
Justice I. C. Ibeawuchi imposed the interim injunction against Governor Hope Uzodimma and five others on Thursday.
This follows a restraining application filed by Sunway Global Properties Limited (who sued on behalf of themselves and the owners of land within the Central Market), against the violation of their fundamental right to own property by the state.
Other defendants in the matter include the Attorney General of Imo, the Nigeria Export-Import Bank (NEXIM), the Owerri Central Market Complex Development and Investment Company Limited, and Donez Global Services Limited.
Uzodimma had announced on June 21, 2024, that the Imo Central Market would be a transformative project, elevating the state to global prominence.
But in the interim injunction application, counsel to the plaintiffs, Mr. Christian Nwadigo, told the court that the defendants needed to be restrained from taking “any further steps in the forceful demolition of the structures erected on the piece of land known as the Central Market Layout, Owerri, Imo State.”
An interim injunction application is similar to an ex parte motion, which does not necessarily require an initial response from the defense unless a judge directs that they be notified.
The claimants argued that the land earmarked for demolition by the state is theirs, urging the court to stop the state from forcefully ejecting them from the structures they had erected, pending the determination of their application.
Nwadigo stressed that his clients were seeking the court’s protection and restoration as the owners of their property while awarding due compensation for property already demolished.
Ruling on the application on August 29, 2024, the judge warned against further construction of the ongoing perimeter fencing work around the structures erected by the plaintiffs, pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice for interlocutory injunction filed by the applicants.
“Order of Interim Injunction is hereby granted restraining the defendants, either by themselves or through their agents, servants, assigns, heirs, privies, or any other person acting on their behalf, from taking any further steps in furtherance of the forceful demolition of the structures erected by the plaintiffs on the piece of land known as the Central Market Layout, Owerri, Imo State, pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice for interlocutory injunction filed by the plaintiffs/applicants,” the judge said, as reported by the News Agency of Nigeria.
At the groundbreaking ceremony of the Owerri Central Market Complex in New Owerri on June 21, 2024, Governor Uzodimma highlighted the market’s potential to boost the state’s economy and attract international attention.
As disclosed on the Imo State government Facebook page, the market project, originally designed in 1976, is a direct foreign investment aimed at serving both international and local markets in Imo State and its environs.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who graced the occasion, was said to have praised Governor Uzodimma for his efforts in realizing such a wealth-creating project for the state.
The court has now been invited to determine the legality of the government’s action.