Samboro Community N1.1trn judgment: Judiciary is the hope of the common man, says SAN

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mohammed Ndarani Mohammed, says the judiciary was indeed the hope of the common man, following the fine of 1.1 trillion naira imposed on the Federal Ministry of Mines and Power by a Minna High Court.

Mohammed made this known while reacting to the order for the ministry to pay compensation to the Samboro Community in Madaka District in Rafi Local Government Area of Niger state.

“I am so delighted with this judgment; it’s a judgment that reflects rule of law.

“The plight of the peasant farmers who have been undergoing untold hardship over the years has been restored by the court. I really do believe that the judiciary is the hope of the common man,” he told the newsmen on Friday in Abuja,

Mohammed recalled that Alhaji Abubakar Usman, the village head of Samboro Community, and 2,844 other community members had on April 27, 2023, filed a complaint with the court under case number NSHC/ Kut/6/2023.

He noted that the lesson to be drawn from the landmark judgment is that it pays to follow the rule of law.

“People should always pursue justice by way of the judicial process and the law courts must always be seen as the surest route to justice,’’ he added.

NAN reports that Justice Mohammed Adishetu Mohammed had on Monday, handed down the order in a lengthy ruling.

He said that the construction of the Zungeru Hydro power dam in the Samboro Community has 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.

“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’’.

Judge Mohammed further stated 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).

He 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.

He, thereafter, ordered an’ perpetual injunction restraining the defendants, their servants, agents, privies and or assigns whosever and howsoever from trespassing or further acts of trespass or doing any act or actions, conduct of breach prejudicial and or reprehensive to the plaintiffs ‘right, interest ownership, possession and occupation on the land’.

“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 in Samboro Community in Rafi Local Government area of Niger State.

“That an order is hereby given directing the 1st defendant to pay the sum N100,000,000 as general damages and cost of prosecuting this suit and legal representation and ten percent post Judgment interest per annum.”