Abuja property dispute: A/Court hears suit against SAN, July 5

By Vivian Okejeme, Abuja

The Court of Appeal Abuja, has again adjourned till July 5, for hearing of a property case filed against a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Mr J.B Majiyagbe.
The appellants, Samuel Nwosu and Chukwuemeka Anyaoha, had approached the court over ownership of a property situated at Plot 222 Shehu Shagari Way, Asokoro, Abuja.
At the resumed proceedings, yesterday, the three-member panel of the court granted an application seeking to substitute the name of Skye Bank for Polaris bank, which is the bank’s new name.
The court, therefore, ordered that all court processes relating to appeal number CA/A/541/2018 be amended to reflect the name of Polaris Bank.
The court further made an order directing that fresh hearing notice be issued on the second respondent, Polaris Bank, who was not represented in court.
Earlier, counsel to the appellant Mr Chukwuma-Machukwu Ume (SAN) tendered a letter from the Deputy Registrar of the court confirming that the correct number of the appeal was CA/A/541/2018 and not CA/A/112/2017.
On the last adjourned date, a three-man panel of the appellate court headed by Justice Abubakar Yahaya, ordered Ume, Mr G. O. A. Ogunyomi and Oluwasegun Owa, lawyers to the 1st and 2nd respondents, to correct the discrepancies in the appeal number.
This was sequel to an observation raised by Mr G.O.A Ogunyomi, counsel to Mayiyagbe that whereas the motion that was filed by the appellants was marked CA/A/541/2018, the original appeal number handed by the court, was CA/A/112/2017.
The Appellants, in their brief of argument, submitted that Majiyagbe, being their tenant, owed them one year rent.
They said they were surprised when they learned that Majiyagbe subsequently issued a letter to his co-tenants, notifying them that he had bought the property and demanded that they should henceforth pay rent to him.
Specifically, the appellant is praying the court to set-aside a ruling of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, which rejected an application they filed to join the alleged debtor, Sam Total Trade Ltd, as an interested party in the case.
They are also asking the appellant to declare that Majiyagbe SAN, had no right to issue his co-tenants, any document claiming that he was now the landlord of the property.
They are equally praying for an order of injunction restraining Majiyagbe from asserting any right of ownership over the property.
Responding, Majiyagbe, in his own amended statement of defence and counter-claim, posited that he bought the property from Skye Bank Plc, now Polaris Bank Ltd.
He informed the court that the property was sold to him after a company, Sam Total Trade Ltd, which used it as collateral, failed to pay N60 million mortgage loan it took from the bank.