Counsel for Asa Investment limited owned by late Dr Olusola Saraki, Mr Abdulrazeez Ibrahim, and the state Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Salman Jawondo, who is representing the Kwara State Government, on Monday, told a Kwara State High Court sitting in Ilorin that the amicable resolution to settle the revocation of disputed land on which Ile Arugbo was built has collapsed.
Following the collapse of the peace talks on the disputed land, Justice Abiodun Adebara has fixed March 25, 2020, for the hearing of the suit challenging the Kwara State Government’s revocation of the land allegedly owned by late Dr Saraki.
Justice Adebara had at the last sitting of the court on January 24, 2020, advised the parties involved in the case – Asa Investment Limited and Kwara State Government – to employ dialogue in resolving the issue in the interest of peace and harmony.
Thereafter, counsel for both the claimants and the defendants held reconciliation meetings on February 6 and 11 at the Governor’s office, Ilorin.
However, Ibrahim told the court that the peace talks collapsed over irreconcilable differences on the term of amicable settlement of the dispute.
Ibrahim listed his client’s terms of settlement to include “the reversal of the revocation order placed on the disputed land, reconstruction of the partially demolished structures on the land and offering of apology to the aged women that were harassed on the night the structures were pulled down.”
He said the state government’s only term of settlement was the insistence that the revocation order placed on the disputed land stands because of public interest.
He, however, expressed the readiness of his clients to forgo the second and third demands in the interest of peace.
For his part, counsel to the state government, Jawondo said the peace talks collapsed “when the claimants came out frontally that their demand for the reversal of the revocation order placed on the disputed land was not negotiable.”
After listening to the argument and counter-argument by the counsels, Justice Adebara adjourned the case till March 25, 2020, for hearing.
