By Ijeoma Umeh
Benin City – From an expired legal seal embossed in a conveyance presented before the Committee by Quincy Omoregbee, a legal practitioner and counsel to the Petitioner, to a default in the two-month duration of payment and to the signing of conveyance before payment was offset, the Edo State Private Properties Protection Committee headed by Hon. Justice Alero Edodo-Eruaga (Retd) again did due diligence in considering the merits of a matter before it and finally faulted several aspects of a Petition brought before the Committee today in Government House Benin City.
The Committee dismissed the petition, with advice to both parties and their counsel to be more cautious in their dealings with fellow men.
The Petitioner, Jolly Ihueghian, appearing with a power of attorney on behalf of his son, Iyosayi Nephi Olamide Ihueghian, based in the UK, had brought a petition to claim a parcel of land measuring 100ft by 100ft situated at Iruwe community in Ovia North East Local Government area of Edo state.
The said property had come to him as an agency transaction until he decided to acquire it on behalf of his son.
The Petitioner stated that he approached the Respondent, Mr Hardy E. Sunday Oghagbon to purchase the land for the sum of #1.2m, with an initial deposit of #600,000 and a verbal agreement to offset the balance in 2years.
However, the Respondent stated that the verbal agreement was to the effect that the Petitioner would pay up in 2 months and not in 2 years as claimed.
He further stated that the Petitioner delayed paying up in 2 months and the Respondent notified him of his intention to get another buyer since he needed to use the fund.
The Respondent stated that it was after 2 years when he had sold the property to another buyer that the Petitioner went to pay the balance #600,000 and came to claim the land.
All attempts by the community to resolve the issue failed until the Petitioner brought the matter before the Committee.
In a frantic and futile attempt to convince the Committee that his client, the Petitioner, had a fair deal, Quincy Omoregbee Esq, Counsel to the Petitioner, presented a conveyance which he said he had drafted on behalf of his client.
Scrutinizing the documents, the Committee raised questions on its authenticity and faulted the expired seal, a seal that had expired in 2019 used in signing a document for a 2020 transaction.
The Committee noted that an invalid seal invalidates the document.
Again, the Committee faulted the Petitioner’s claim that he had agreed with the Respondent to pay up in 2022 whereas the conveyance was signed in 2020.
Meanwhile, the Petitioner was insisting on getting back the land rather than taking a refund.
“We cannot condone these irreconcilable differences. ” Hon. Justice Alero Edodo-Eruaga (Retd), Chairman of Committee informed the Petitioner.
She referred parties to a paragraph of the Conveyance and said:
“There is nowhere in your agreement that the duration of payment was spelt out. We Have too many reasons why we would fault this transaction. As it stands, the petition is dismissed. The money(#1.2m) should be returned to the Payee.”
The Committee heard 32 cases bordering on land disputes, and reports from Police Teams on progress of cases still under investigation.
Sitting continues in Government House, Benin City.
