Ile Arugbo: Court adjourns hearing as peace talks collapse

Following the collapse of the peace talks over the disputed land on which the controversial Ile Arugbo was built, Justice Abiodun Adebara of a Kwara state High Court, sitting in Ilorin, has fixed March 25 for the hearing of the suit challenging the state government’s revocation of the land belonging to late strongman of Kwara politics, Dr. Olusola Saraki.

Justice Adebara had at the last sitting of the court on January 24, advised parties involved in the case, Asa Investment Limited and the Kwara state government to dialogue in amicably resolving the issue in the interest of peace and harmony.

Meanwhile, counsel to both the claimants and the defendants held reconciliation meetings on February 6 and 11 at the governor’s office, Ilorin.

However, counsel to the Asa Investment Limited, AbdulAziz Ibrahim and that of the state government, Salman Jawondo, who is the state’s attorney -general and commissioner for justice yesterday told the court that the peace talks collapsed over irreconcilable differences over the terms of settlement.

Ibrahim listed his clients 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 an apology to the aged women that were harassed on the night when 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.

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The counsel however, expressed the readiness of his clients to go for the second and third demands in the interest of peace.

However, 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.”

The attorney-general therefore, sought for an adjournment for a proper hearing of the suit.

After listening to the argument and counter- arguments both counsels, Justice Adebara commended both parties and their counsels for meeting twice in an attempts to find an amicable resolution to the crisis as advised by the court.

He advised them to still forge ahead on reaching an amicable resolution of the dispute.

“However, since the two parties have not been able to reach an amicable resolution of the dispute, the suit ought to continue and it’s in this regard that the court will grant an adjournment for hearing.

“I hereby adjourn the case till March 25 for hearing,” Adebara ruled.