April 17 has been fixed for the ruling of the contempt suit filed against the minister of the FCT, Senator Bala Mohammed and five others, over the demolition of the Gwagwalada Main Market.
The plaintiffs, Mr. Musa Mohammed and 52 other traders in the market had recently filed the suit through their counsel, Mr. Michael Ayam, challenging the demolition in spite of a subsisting court order.
Justice Mwoda Balami had on February 11, following an application filed by the plaintiffs, and granted an order restraining the defendants from demolishing the market pending the determination of the substantive suit before the court.
At the resumed hearing of the contempt case, the plaintiff’s counsel sought for an order committing the defendants to prison for disobedience to the order of the court.
Ayam urged the court to restrain the defendants from clearing or erecting buildings on the demolished site, pending the determination of the substantive suit before the court.
The plaintiffs’ counsel also sought for an order for damages for losses caused to the plaintiffs by the demolition of all the shops covered by the court order.
Ayam had urged the court to grant his application to restore respect for rule of law and also serve as deterrent to other wishing to disobey court orders.
But the counsel to the Minister, Mr. Chima Ede, had objected to the plaintiffs’ application on the ground that it was defective and incompetent in law.
He faulted the application on the ground that service was not effected on his client personally as required by law since there was no order for substituted service granted by the court.
Ede, therefore, urged the court to refuse the application and hold that the order was not duly served on his client in line with the requirement of the law.