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Duke asks FHC chief judge to quit N555m residence

By Tony Amokeodo

A former Cross River State Governor, Mr Donald Duke, has asked the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice Abdullahi Mustapha, to quit his official residence at 1 Temple Road, Ikoyi, Lagos.

File former Governor of Cross River State, Mr. Donald Duke File Chief Judge of Federal High Court, Justice Abdullahi Mustapha

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Duke, in a letter dated March 27, 2008, and addressed to the occupier, said the right of ownership was conferred on him by virtue of a Certificate of Occupancy for a duration of 99 years.

He is believed to have bought the house for N555m.

The letter which was made available to our correspondent on Monday, reads in part, “The right to the property was granted me via C of O in August 2006 and because of the exigency of my public office, I was unable to take possession of the said property earlier.

“Consequently, upon the above, I respectfully wish to inform you of my intention to take up the possession of the said property before the end of April 2008”.

The C of O was perfected on May 25, 2007, four days before the ex-governor handed over power to Senator Liyel Imoke.

Chief Helen U. Esuene signed the document on behalf of the Minister of Environment, Housing and Urban Development.

The Chief Registrar of the Federal High Court had filed a suit against the Minister of Housing, the Attorney- General of the Federation and the Implementation Committee of the White Paper on the Commission of Enquiry into the Alienation of Federal Government Landed Property over the property.

Justice Tijani Abubakar of the FHC consequently granted an injunction on April 8 and restrained the Federal Government agents from selling the disputed property.

The judge also restrained the Minister of Environment, Housing and Urban Development and his agents from interfering with the property, pending the determination of the motion on notice on April 21.

Our correspondent observed that item 16 (iii) of the Federal Government’s approved guidelines on the sale of its properties in Lagos exempted the sale of houses occupied by federal judges that are based in Lagos.

The item says, “ For special, diplomatic or statutory reasons, the following properties shall be exempted from sale: State House Dodan Barracks; Vice-President’s Guest House; Houses occupied by Federal Judges that are based in Lagos; Properties excluded from sale by Government directives; Properties approved for redeployment; Properties allocated to the African –Union and currently in use; and Properties allocated to United Nations Agencies and currently in use.”

Our correspondent also learnt that the Chief Registrar of the FHC would soon file an application to join Duke in the suit.