The conduct and
operation of some markets Association officials when there is misunderstanding
among their members makes one wonder whether they are above the rule of law.
No association is
recognized unless it has been fully registered, clearly stating its aims and
objectives for the benefit of its members and the society at large. It is
therefore surprising when some executive members of a market association such
as the Incorporated Trustees of Balogun Business Association took laws into
their hands and locked up the shops of one of their members, Mr. Chimezie
Ezere, while claiming that they obtained a court judgment that empowered them
to do so.
Challenging the illegal
lock up of his shops, Ezere, through Apeiye Becon’s Chambers, Notary Public of
Nigeria, wrote a petition to both the Chief Judge, High Court, Ikeja, and the
Deputy Sheriff, High Court, Ikeja, Lagos, against the President of Balogun Business
Association, Trade Fair Complex, Ojo, Lagos.
Seeking reliefs for
Ezere, the applicant’s legal adviser, Apeiye Becon’s Chambers avers that the
conduct and action of the respondent, Balogun Business Association, locking up
the applicant’s two shops known as Shop B 010 and B 019 Yobe Cluster situated
at Balogun Market International Center for Commerce Complex, Trade Fair Complex
Badagry Expressway, Ojo, Lagos since July 22, 2016, deny the applicant’s right
to own and control his properties (the shops and the goods inside) amounts to a
violation of the applicant’s Constitutional right granted under Section 44(1)
of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended. The
chambers also demand for claim of damages by the applicant against the respondent
for the unlawful lock of the aforementioned shops.
Based on the petition
written by Apeiye’s Chambers, it has been discovered that, the action of the Balogun
market association president is illegal because it is not based on any court
order. The statement of the facts’ shows that on the 22nd of July
2016, a kangaroo court official came to execute a purported Court Judgment in
the market; and the conduct of the so called court official warranted the
applicant to demand to see the Court Order ordering the market association to
seize his goods, but the court official could not show any part of such order
from a court.
Ezere, the applicant being
a peaceful and law abiding citizen allowed the official who claimed to come
from High Court of Lagos State, Ikeja, to perform his duty, but findings later
reveals that the official was from Igbosere, not Ikeja.
The two numbers of the
Balogun Business Association Task Force keys used to lock up the shops are
B.B.A. Task Force M417 and B.B.A. Task Force L54, which the applicant snapped
their photographs and attached to the petition and marked as Exhibit A and B.
It is in this vein that
Apeiye Chambers placed a motion on notice at the Federal High Court in the
Lagos Juidcial Division Holden in Lagos, with suit number FHC/1/15/114A/16 on
the 25th of August 2016, asking the Court to declare the action of the
respondent (Balogun Business Association president) null and void as it amounts
to a violation of the applicant’s constitutional right granted under Section
44(1) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended. The
suit further seek the honourable court to mandate the respondent to pay the sum
of N10 million (Ten million naira) as damages to the applicant; and also
demands an order of perpetual injunction restraining the respondent, its
privies or any of its members acting on its behalf not to further infringe in
any manner whatsoever on the applicant’s constitutional right, amongst others.
It is however appalling
as investigations show that contrary to the claim of the Balogun Market
Association that the sealing order of the shops is from the High Court Sheriff who
came for the execution, the Sheriff denies knowledge of sealing of the shops
and posited further that there is no Court order to warrant such. This makes
one wonder whether the president of the Balogun Business Association is
superior to the Federal High Court in the Lagos judicial division that has
ordered the opening of the shops, as the shops are still locked till date. Is
the president of Balogun Business Association now an authority to himself and
disobeys a superior court order of the Federal Republic of Nigeria? What is
happening?
