• Friday, March 29, 2024
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BusinessDay

Kano rice company unsealed as IGP, state govt obey court order

Untitled design – 2020-05-27T163039.197

The counsel representing the multi-naira rice milling company, Tiamin Rice Company, Kano, Adegboyega Awomolo, told a Federal High Court, Abuja, on Wednesday that the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and the Attorney General of Kano State had heeded the order of the court to unseal the company.

The company was sealed about two months ago by the Kano State government on the grounds that it was close to COVID-19 isolation centre.

The order to unseal the company which was issued by Justice Okon Abang was said to have been fully complied with and the rice mill handed over to the owners.

Chief Awomolo, lead counsel to the owners of the Kano-based rice company informed Justice Abang on Wednesday that all barricades erected at the company’s premises by police had been removed

By the action, Awomolo said that the Police Chief had demonstrated loyalty to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

He further informed the judge that the IGP had demonstrated faithfulness to the oath of his office and also demonstrated obedience to the rule of law which requested obedience to court judgment for the IGP and his subordinates.

The court had at the last hearing, threatened to jail Kano State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice as well as the Commissioner of Police in the state over their unlawful closure of the multi-million naira Tiamin Rice Company.

Justice Abang, had while issuing the threat, warned that unless the Attorney General and the Commissioner of Police obeyed his judgment ordering the unsealing of the rice company, they “will be guilty of contempt of court and will be committed to prison.”

The threat of the judge followed the refusal of the Attorney General and the police boss to appear before him to give reasons on why they sealed up the rice company and stopped production without a lawful court order.

The Tiamin Rice Mill, Tiamin Multi-services Global Limited and Alhaji Aliyu Ali Ibrahim, had jointly dragged the Inspector General of Police, Kano State Commissioner of Police, Kano State government and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) before the court and had sought the enforcement of their fundamental rights.

They had complained of unlawful closure of their rice mill without any court order and prayed Justice Abang to order them out of the company to enable them resume production.

The Kano State government had told the press that the company was sealed owning to its closeness to the centre hosting patients of the coronavirus pandemic.

Although, Justice Abang ordered the four respondents to appear before him on April 27 to defend their actions, none of them however, obeyed the court order and were not represented by lawyers despite being served hearing notices and newspaper publications to that effect.

Justice Abang had while granting the prayers of the three applicants, declared them as “lawful owners and occupiers of their property in Kano and are entitled to own property and enjoy or occupation, possession, and use of same.”

The court had also ordered that “the sealing off of the rice processing mill and denial of lawful access without any order of competent court of law backing up the sealing off constituted a violation of the owners’ fundamental rights under Sections 33, 34, 43 and 44 of the 1999 Constitution and is therefore illegal and unconstitutional.”

Justice Abang had voided the action of Kano State in sealing off the rice company and stopping of production without any notice or fair hearing, declaring it as an unlawful act.

The judge had ordered the Inspector General of Police, the Kano State Police Command, their agents and privies to immediately take possession of the rice mill company from the Kano state government and grant access to the rightful owners for the purpose of continuing their lawful business.

Justice Abang had also restrained the four respondents and their servants “from continuing their unlawful acts of sealing off the rice company”, and ordered the Inspector General of Police and the NSCDC to unconditionally unseal the factory.

The judge while restraining Kano State government from further interfering with, demolishing or attempting to cause harm to the owners, ordered the respondents to pay a sum of N300, 000 to the applicants before taking any step in the proceedings and that the applicants “shall endorse Form 48 on the enrolled judgment order and serve same on the four respondents.”