By Nwabueze Okonkwo

ONITSHA – An Onitsha Magistrate Court in Anambra State has fixed July 9 for further hearing in a N500,000 suit filed by a businessman, Chief Ntomchukwu Atuchukwu, against a legal practitioner, Charles Ononye. The matter which was earlier scheduled to come up before Chief Magistrate Mike Okonkwo on May 28 could not hold because the defendant (Ononye) said he was served the hearing notice on May 27.

The defendant (Ononye), through an application, informed the court that he already had a pending matter before the Court of Appeal Enugu Division, on the same date, hence a new date on July 9 was fixed by the court.

Atuchukwu (Claimant) through his counsel, Akosa Egwuatu, had dragged the Ononye to court, asking him to refund the sum of N500,000 which he allegedly collected from him (Atuchukwu) sometime ago to give to his client, Okey Onuma, as settlement fee (N1.2 million) for a land dispute between himself and Onuma but failed to issue him with a written settlement agreement as an acknowledgement for the receipt of the the said amount.

In his statement of claim, Atuchukwu informed the court that he gave Ononye two different bank cheques amounting to N500,000 as first instalment for N1.2 million agreed upon by himself and Ononye to settle Onuma so that he could hands off the ownership claims of the land. The claimant explained that it was when Ononye failed to issue him with a written agreement that he stopped the post-dated cheques he already issued to him (Ononye) for the balance of N700,000.

He further told the court that he bought the said land from one Emembolu as the rightful owner but as he was developing it, Onuma, through his lawyer, Ononye, sued him to an Onitsha High Court II to restrain him from further trespassing on the land by way of interlocutory injunction, but the then presiding judge of the court, Justice Pete Obiora, dismissed the injunction for lack of merit.

The claimant stated that following the dismissal of Onuma’s injunction, he continued with his erection of the fence and shops on the land until it was allegedly demolished the structures over night.

According to the claimant, he dragged Onuma to Nteje Magistrate Court II presided over by Chioma Amuluche where he is currently claiming N1 million for damages on the disputed land, adding that at a stage Ononye approached him and advised that he should pay his client (Onuma) some amount of money as settlement fee to enable him vacate the land.

Atuchukwu further said it was based on Ononye’s advice that they negotiated and agreed that he should pay Onuma N1.2 million as settlement fee on three instalments, saying that it was the first instalment of N500,000 he gave to Ononye to remit to his client (Onuma) that Ononye failed to issue him with a settlement agreement, hence he decided to go to court to recover his money.