By Ibuchukwu Ezike
The Civil Liberties Organisation otherwise known as CLO, a leading human rights group has tasked the Federal Government to obey a recent court ruling in Niger State to pay the sum of N1.1trn judgement debt to the Samboro community for the destruction of their livelihoods and forceful eviction.
The foremost human rights group which addressed journalists at a press conference in Abuja, the nation’s capital recently, said, among other things, that it was invoking its power of advocacy under its DEMOCRACY and GOVERNANCE mandate to draw local and international attention to the prevailing plight of the inhabitants of Samboro Community in Madaka District of Rafi Local Government Area of Niger State who were forcefully ejected and displaced from their communal land following an alleged poor design and construction of the Zungeru Hydro-Electric Power Dam in the state. Construction of the Dam was awarded to a consortium of Chinese firms by the Federal Government through the Federal Ministry of Mines and Power.
Speaking during the media parley, Ibuchukwu Ezike who is the Executive Director of CLO said that the organisation has put in place series of activities to ensure that the Federal Government obeys the court ruling which granted succour to inhabitants of Samboro community by awarding them the cost of N1.1trn for the destruction of their entire livelihoods and forceful eviction. According to the group, trouble started for the community when Zungeru Hydro-Electric Dam overflowed and released unimaginable volume of water into the community and within hours and days, washed away the livelihood and homes of the inhabitants.
As the devastating effects of the dam raged, the Civil Liberties Organisation alleged that the Federal Government failed to come to the aid of her own people who were left to survive on their own. Dissatisfied with the government’s attitude and behaviour, Alhaji Abubakar Usman who is the village head of Samboro Community and 2,844 other members of the community on April 27, last year, filed a complaint with the court in case number NSHC/ Kut/6/2023. The Samboro Community lawyer, Muhammed Ndarani Mohammed, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), who filed the suit, challenged the government on the damaging impact of the dam on the community and demanded compensation.
Justice Mohammed Adishetu Mohammed of High Court 4 in Minna, Niger State, after hearing all the parties including lawyers of the government, ordered the Federal Ministry of Mines and Power to pay N1.1trn as compensation for damages caused the affected community. Describing the judgement as courageous and a landmark, the CLO commended the legal depth of the ruling and Honourable Justice Mohammed who handed down the order. In the lengthy ruling, Justice Mohammed held that the construction of the Zungeru Hydro Power Dam in the Samboro Community caused immense hardship to the affected community’s agricultural activity as well as damaged their economic trees. He reaffirmed that the plaintiffs’ means of subsistence have consequently been irreparably affected.
He further held that “The plaintiffs are the original occupants of the large area of land located at Samboro Community, which makes up approximately 7,868 hectares in the Rafi Local Government Area of Niger State. This land is the subject of this case, as stipulated by section 41(1) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and sections 8(c) and (h) of the Hydro Electric power producing Areas Development Commission Act, 2010. They have been forcibly ejected from their ancestral homes, they have endured unimaginable hardship, and the defendants’ joint and multiple acts during the construction of the Zungeru Dam Project have resulted in ongoing flooding and erosional confrontations on the community.’’
The group noted that Justice Mohammed demonstrated courage when he further held that “this court is clothed with the jurisdictional competence to entertain, hear, and determine the reliefs of the plaintiffs for the award of monetary compensation, taking into consideration the existing provisions of Section 39 of the Land Use Act and Section 44(1a &1b) of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 Constitution, (as amended).” Justice Mohammed had maintained that the plaintiffs, who are the original residents of the community, are entitled to monetary compensation for the harm done to their economic and environmental means of subsistence and as well as for the immense suffering and complete destruction of all of their sources of income.
While also commending Mohammed Ndarani Mohammed, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN and his team of private legal practitioners who made tremendous personal sacrifices to ensure justice for the affected community, the CLO observed that the cause of justice was rightly served by the judge who granted an order of perpetual injunction restraining the Federal Government and their agents from further acts of trespass or actions prejudicial and or reprehensive to the community’s ‘right of ownership and possession of the land.’
In sustaining the prayers of the Samboro community, the CLO said Justice Mohammed had concluded that “an order is hereby given directing the 1st defendant to pay to the plaintiffs, forthwith, the sum of One Trillion, One Hundred And Fifty Billion, Five Hundred And Ninety Five Million, Forty Seven Thousand And Two Hundred And Eighty Eight Naira (N1,115,595,047,288) as monetary compensation for the destruction of their farmlands, houses, ponds, sabotage to their economic welfare and survival, untold hardship and total annihilation of all their resources of livelihood.”
That court also directed the 1st defendant being the Federal Minister of Mines and Power to pay the sum N100,000,000 as general damages and cost of prosecuting the suit, legal representation and 10 percent post of judgment interest per annum. The CLO noted that since the Federal Ministry of Mines and Power has been cited as the main culprit, it expressed concern that there may be surreptitious actions by the Federal Government to delay or deny the affected community the benefit of the court judgement. It therefore appealed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to uphold the rule of law as a critical component of democracy by directing the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation to ensure full compliance with the court judgement without further delay.
*Ezike is the Executive Director of Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO).
