Posted by By Rotimi Durojaiye, Aviation Correspondent, Lagos on
Lawyers from Gani Fawehinmi chambers prevented what would have been a bloody clash at the Murtala Mohammed Airport (MMA) in Lagos on Wednesday.
Lawyers from Gani Fawehinmi chambers prevented what would have been a bloody clash at the Murtala Mohammed Airport (MMA) in Lagos on Wednesday.
The timely intervention of the lawyers staved off a major confrontation between allotees of offices, shops and spaces at the Domestic Terminal of MMA, and members of the Presidential Task Force on the sanitisation of the airport environment.
The Task Force had on Tuesday evening served demolition notices on the about 250 allotees, asking them to vacate their shops and offices by Wednesday morning, notwithstanding the fact that the issue is still pending at the Court of Appeal, Lagos.
Each of the allotees pays an annual rental fee of about N450,000 to the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN).
To match words with action, about 100 anti-riot policemen led by the Commissioner of Police, Airport Police Command, Fabian Odiri, and the FAAN Chief Security Officer, Mohammed Zakari, stormed the domestic car park, to embark on the demolition exercise. All entrances to the car park were condoned off by stern-looking policemen who warned the occupants to vacate their offices in their own interest. The policemen came in several vehicles some of which were marked NPF 3978 B; NPF 5105; and NPF 5971 B. Sensing that danger was looming, the Bureau De Change operators, mostly of Northern extraction, chanted war songs, vowing to vehemently resist the illegal attempt to evict them.
Wise counsel later prevailed among the occupants as some of them quickly raced to Fawehinmi chambers to alert him on an attempt by FAAN to evict them.
Consequently, Clement Onwuenwunor and three other lawyers from Fawehinmi chambers came to the FAAN headquarters to warn the management of the consequences of the illegal action.
The letter signed by Onwuenwunor revealed that the FAAN management had recently invited tenders from the occupants with respect to the airport concession, which the allotees bid for. He said all arrangements had been concluded between FAAN and the allotees and the legal instruments of the concession had been perfected by the legal department of the authority and was meant to be given to them this week. The Lagos lawyer warned the authorities not to take extra-judicial steps that would invariably render nugatory the appeal of the allotees.
'It is, therefore, clear from the above that your threat of eviction of our clients will amount to undue interference with the judicial powers of the Court of Appeal, Lagos Division and consequently, illegal.
'We urge you to restrain yourself in the circumstances of this case and allow the judicial process to take its due course," the lawyer warned.
Although top management officials of FAAN were out of the country during the incident, the Legal Department prevailed on the Task Force to 'stay action".
Although the policemen 'stayed action", they refused to vacate the premises and as well prevented customers from entering the premises to transact business.
Two of the allotees, Alhaji Say Mohammed and Chief Onyebuchi Jude, told journalists that they had appealed against the April 15, 2002 ruling of Justice Emmanuel Sanyaolu that had restrained them from taking FAAN to court.
They said as lawful occupants and allotees of various offices, shops and spaces at the airport, they have been discharging their financial obligations with regards to the said occupation to FAAN.
The Director of Commercial, Planning and Investments, FAAN, Dr. Gbenga Owojaiye, had on April 12, 2005, written some of the occupants that the Minister of Aviation had given approval for shop concession at the Airport.
The letter with reference number FAAN/CPI/HQ/01/Vol.1, said 'you will be invited in due course for the business/financial arrangement of the concession".