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Jos court adjourns case against Jang, Council to January

By Isa Abdulsalami Ahovi, Jos Plateau State
13 November 2017   |   3:55 am
Acting Chief Judge, Justice Yakubu Dakwak has adjourned to January 31, 2018, the case involving the 12 female footballers killed in a ghastly motor accident in December 2008 when they were returning from Shendam after a match.

Acting Chief Judge, Justice Yakubu Dakwak has adjourned to January 31, 2018, the case involving the 12 female footballers killed in a ghastly motor accident in December 2008 when they were returning from Shendam after a match.

The female footballers, popularly known as Tin City Queens, commissioned by the immediate past First Lady, Mrs. Talatu Jonah Jang for the tournament, had the accident at Dorowa-Babuje in Barkin Ladi of the state when their vehicle swerved off the road and hit an oncoming vehicle, killing all the 12 of them on the spot.

After the accident, the state government promised the victim’s families some money as compensation for their loss, but the promise was not fulfilled until 2013 when the deceased’s families took the matter to court.

Although an out of court settlement was later agreed by the two parties, the defendants kept shifting and delaying the matter prompting the plaintiffs to head back to court.

The matter now is between Jos North local government, Mrs. Talatu Jonah Jang and Kenneth Eze and the parents of the deceased female stars.At the last adjournment, Justice Dakwak emphatically announced that only the case was slated to be heard so that progress could be made in the case.

When the case came up for hearing again, the plaintiffs’ counsel, Mr. Gyang Zi pleaded to be given more time to put his house in order. The prayer was granted and the Judge adjourned it to January 31, 2018.

Irked by the spate of adjournments, counsel to the plaintiffs, Mr. Armstrong Ekomah told journalists that he was not happy with the development, adding that he was more angered by the fact that latest hearing was the first day he assembled in the court almost all the witnesses.

“In fairness to their lawyer, Mrs. Lot Ben, she would have loved the matter to be adjudicated upon immediately but the defendants are not serious.
“We spent good four years on settlement out of court with no progress…”

Honestly, I don’t know the reason for this adjournment.”Ekomah said he was disappointed by Mrs. Talatu Jang’s stance that she was not interested in the out of court settlement, adding that to prove what she said was true, her lawyer too did not appear in court despite the fact that he was served the hearing notice.

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