39 years after, the Supreme Court of Nigeria has dismissed the suit challenging the revocation and compulsory acquisition of Trans-Nkissi Layout in Onitsha by the Anambra State Government.
In the suit initiated in 1987 by Chinyelugo Denis Chude and 11 others against the Government of Anambra State, the Attorney General of the state and the Commissioner for Lands, the plaintiffs challenged the government’s revocation and compulsory acquisition of the area now known as Trans-Nkissi Layout Onitsha, a layout similar to the Trans-Ekulu Layout in Enugu and Trans-Amadi Layout in Rivers State.
It was gathered that the plaintiffs failed to prosecute the case diligently, leading to its striking out in 2008 by Honourable Justice Agbata, after which the plaintiffs waited for over seven additional years before praying the court to relist the suit.
Sources further revealed that the plaintiffs’ attempt to relist the suit in 2015 was rejected by the trial judge upon considering the opposition of an Assistant Director in the Ministry of Justice, Okechukwu Ezeanyim, who pointed out the lack of progress since 1987, no witnesses led, and significant development of the area into a high-brow layout with thousands of residents, even as he argued that it would be inequitable and contrary to public policy to disturb the status quo after over 30 years of inaction.
The plaintiffs’ appeal to the Court of Appeal (CA/E/E/96/2015) was dismissed for lack of merit, and subsequent appeal to the Supreme Court (SC/400/2018) was also dismissed for the same reason by Justice Iyang Okoro who gave the lead judgement – a unanimous decision from all other judges.
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