Thursday, July 2, 2015

Court may jail managers of NCC property

MANAGERS of the property of the moribund Nigerian Coal Corporation (NCC) may soon be jailed for allegedly disobeying the orders of the Enugu High Court.
The court has issued Form 48 to the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), its estate surveyors and valuers, C.A Chizea and Co, for allegedly offering the corporation’s property to one Ibe Okpokwu, against the court’s order.



It had on March 30, in a suit filed by an Enugu-based lawyer and occupant of the property, Agu Gab Agu, restrained the BPE and its agents from the property, No. 99/101, Park Avenue, Enugu, pending the determination of the matter.

However, C.A Chizea, in a letter by its Principal Partner, Victor R. Uko, offered the property to Okpokwu at over N30 million, asking him to make payment in three installments at 25, 10 and 75 per cent respectively.

Angered by this development, Agu, who had occupied the property since 2004 on a yearly tenement of N400,000, had gone to court for he Form 48 on managers of the corporation’s property for alleged disobedience.

Agu told reporters yesterday that since he moved into the property in 2004, he had regularly renewed his tenancy, adding that the BPE approved the sale of houses occupied by corporation’s ex-members of staff but failed to offer him right of first refusal.

“I rushed to court when I discovered that they had given out the property I am living in. They have stated that I am in possession of the property but never offered me the right of first refusal,” he said.

“There is also an agreement between the corporation and I, which is before the court. I am not going to vacate the property. All I want is that they respect the interlocutory order, which is in force until the determination of the suit.”

Describing the transaction as “fraudulent,” Agu said that Okpokwu was not a member of staff of the corporation and should not be entitled to the property, adding that counsels attached to the corporation were present in court the day the order was made.

Meanwhile, an official of the Estate Surveyors and Valuers told The Guardian on grounds of anonymity that they “are not in possession of the said court order,” adding that the approval to sell was in line with the liquidation of the property of the moribund corporation.

http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/

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