Posted by By Jide Osokoya & Abiodun Onafuye on
Despite the order by an Ijebu-Ode High Court that Zipest Petrol Filling Station, closed by the Ogun state government, should be re-opened, the state government has refused to obey the order.
Despite the order by an Ijebu-Ode High Court that Zipest Petrol Filling Station, closed by the Ogun state government, should be re-opened, the state government has refused to obey the order.
The judge, Catherine Ogunsanya (Mrs.), had, on Thursday, 27 November, 2008, granted the prayer of the plaintiff, Mr. Tokunbo Oshin, a member of the Ogun State House of Assembly, who owned the filing station, that it should be re-opened.
The state government, through its agent, Ogun State Bureau for Urban and Regional Planning, had sealed-up Zipest Filling Station, situated along Abeokuta Road, Ijebu-Ode, on 11 November, 2008.
This prompted the management of the filling station, led by its proprietor, Mr. Oshin, to head for the court, where he challenged the illegal closure of the station by instituting an enrolment of order (civil) in suit no: HCJ/147/08, on 17 November, 2008.
After hearing the submissions of the applicant's counsel, Chief Biyi Odugbesan, and that of the defendant, O. O. Okunaiya, the judge granted the application and ordered that the filling station be re-opened.
P.M.News gathered that the court bailiffs served the Ogun State Bureau for Urban and Regional Planning the order on Friday, 28 November, 2008, and it was re-opened the following day, by the Bureau.
Surprisingly, 40 fully armed men, led by Animashaun, a staff of the Ogun State Bureau for Urban and Regional Planning, stormed the filling station yesterday, and sealed it up again.
When P.M.News contacted the Chief Press Secretary to the Ogun State Governor, Mr. Wale Adedayo, he directed us to the General Manager of the Bureau, who also referred us to the Ogun State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Osibajo.
Osibajo was said to be unavailable when P.M.News called his office in Abeokuta. Reacting to the closure, Hon. Oshin said: 'Now that they have closed the filling station again, it is no longer going to be Zipest Ventures versus whoever that sealed it up. It is going to be that person versus the Ogun state judiciary, because that means they are telling the High Court to go to blazes; that means the court order is not to be obeyed, and I think there is an appropriate sanction for whoever disobeys a court order.'