By CLIFFORD NDUJIHE

Tenants of U.L.O. Plaza, at Sokode Crescent, Abuja have faulted the sealing of the property and their ejection by the police and court officials, on February 3, with    a Warrant of Possession issued by Justice S.E. Aladetoyinbo in the case of Bil Construction Ltd. V. Gazi Construction Ltd.

Noting that the property is owned by U.L.O. Consultants Ltd, the tenants, in a motion filed by their lawyers, are seeking an order restoring them to possession on the grounds that the judge had made a previous order restoring possession of the property to U.L.O. Consultants Ltd. in 2014 when an earlier warrant of possession had been issued in the same case of Bil Construction Ltd. V. Gazi Construction Ltd.

The judge had made that previous order acknowledging that the Warrant of Possession did not bind U.L.O. Consultants Ltd. who was not a party in the case, and also that fair hearing was not extended to U.L.O Consultants when the eviction was made in 2014. Bil Construction Ltd. appealed against this ruling and the matter is still pending before the Court of Appeal.

They said the warrant was signed by the same judge who gave the ruling setting that of 2014 aside, while the Court of Appeal is yet to determine the appeal filed against the ruling. According to them, it seems that the Justice Aladetoyinbo is setting aside his own order, an act which can only be done by the Appeal Court.

The tenants, who claimed   that they were not given any prior notice or warning before the eviction and suffered substantial damage to their properties as a result, said that there is another subsisting Order of Injunction from High Court 25 (FCT) restraining the Deputy Sheriff and Bil Construction from interfering with the possession of the property by U.L.O. Consultants Ltd. pending the determination of the issue of title between U.L.O Consultants Ltd. and Bil Construction Ltd. which they said    Justice Aladetoyinbo is aware of.