High Court in Akwa Ibom ends 14 years chieftaincy tussle
Dennis Udoma, Uyo
A High Court sitting in Uyo, Akwa Ibom state capital yesterday struck out a 14 year old chieftaincy legal tussle over the village headship of Ikot Ekop in Ibiono Ibom Local Government Area of the state.
The Court which dismissed the case for want of jurisdiction and seeking to dethrone the Village Head of Ikot Ekop, Chief Asuakak Effiong Brown, popularly known as Chief Aloysius Effiong Brown ended the case in his favour.
Delivering judgement on the suit, the presiding judge, Justice Ntong Ntong narrated that, the claimant, chief Clement Bassey Udo who said he was the Village Head-elect of Ikot Ekop, approached the Court for an order to restrain Chief Asuakak Effiong Brown from parading himself as the Village Head of the community.
Ntong said that “the matter commenced on 22nd December, 2010 without a proper and valid writ of summon which robbed the Court the requisite jurisdiction to hear and determine the case, hence the Court cannot make any consequential order as to who the Village Head is or not.”
He added that “although the claimant, Chief Clement Bassey Udo had a genuine intention and desire to champion his case spoke through his lawyer, he did not approach the Court properly as required by Law.”
The Judge noted that, in the course of reading the case file, which passed through his three learned brothers, including the retired State Chief Judge, Justice Godwin Abraham, Justice Margaret-Mary Udoma and Justice Edem Akpan, he “discovered that the originating writ of summon and the statement of claim were not signed, just as the lifespan of the writ had expired even before it was amended and served on the defendants in 2012.”
The court therefore held that “an expired writ is no writ and to proceed with such a dead writ, is like giving a dead man medicine in an attempt to resuscitate him.”
Justice Ntong further held that “there is uncontroverted evidence that Chief Asuakak Effiong Brown had been recognised by the Governor of Akwa Ibom State in line with Section 15 of Traditional Rulers Law and that the presumption of the Law is that due process was followed, hence he “has no judicial powers to disturb such a traditional recognition.”
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