A Delta State High Court sitting in Ogwashi-Uku has dismissed a preliminary objection challenging its jurisdiction to hear a long-running land dispute over the ownership, management and control of Agidiasei land, clearing the way for the substantive hearing of the case.

In a ruling delivered by Flora Ngozi Azinge, the court held that the defendants failed to establish sufficient legal grounds to deprive it of jurisdiction and consequently dismissed the motion for lacking merit.

The suit, No: O/47/2020, was instituted by Chief Lawrence Okolie Esedume, Ashinze Dumebi, Salasin Diji and Agwada Sunday, acting for themselves and on behalf of the indigenes of Agidiasei Quarters in Ogwashi-Uku Kingdom.

The defendants are Ifechukwude Okonjo and Prince Jude Ifeakanachukwu Emordi, who are defending the action on behalf of Ogwashi-Uku Kingdom, excluding the 11 families of Agidiasei Quarters.

The claimants are seeking judicial determination of issues relating to the ownership, management and control of Agidiasei land.

In their preliminary objection, the defendants argued that the court lacked jurisdiction because the issues raised had allegedly been settled in earlier suits.

 They also contended that the present action amounted to an abuse of court process and maintained that the claimants lacked the legal standing, or locus standi, to institute the case.

However, the claimants opposed the application by filing a counter-affidavit and written address on February 11, 2022, insisting that the previous cases cited by the defendants involved different parties, issues, subject matter, size and location of land.

They further argued that the defendants failed to produce the pleadings, proceedings and evidence from the earlier cases to support their claims.

After reviewing the submissions and affidavit evidence presented by both parties, Justice Azinge ruled that the motion dated February 4, 2021 and filed on February 9, 2021 lacked merit.

The judge held that the defendants failed to satisfy the legal requirements necessary to sustain their objection to the court’s jurisdiction.

According to the court, a careful examination of the claimants’ pleadings revealed substantial questions concerning the ownership, management and control of Agidiasei land, describing them as triable issues deserving full judicial inquiry.

On the issue of locus standi, Justice Azinge reiterated the settled legal principle that a claimant possesses the requisite standing once he demonstrates sufficient interest in a matter or shows that his civil rights and obligations are under threat.

She found that the claimants had established sufficient interest in the disputed land to warrant the court’s intervention.

The court also rejected the defendants’ allegation that the suit constituted an abuse of court process, holding that the allegation was unsupported by credible evidence.

Justice Azinge noted that beyond merely asserting the existence of previous suits, the defendants failed to provide adequate materials showing that the current action was oppressive, vexatious or amounted to multiple proceedings over the same subject matter.

Consequently, the court dismissed the preliminary objection and affirmed that it possesses the requisite jurisdiction to hear the matter.

Justice Azinge subsequently directed all parties to proceed with the substantive hearing of the case, paving the way for the court to determine the merits of the dispute over the ownership and control of the Agidiasei land in Ogwashi-Uku.