Weeks after the management of Nigerian Ports Authority issued an eviction notice to the Kirikiri Lighter Terminal Chapel of Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria, the latter has taken the legal option.
It has dragged NPA and Tenzik Energy Limited to Lagos State High Court to contest the controversial eviction notice over a piece of land along Apapa/Oshodi Expressway, Lagos.
NPA recently issued a seven-day notice for the trucking association to vacate the facility, which, in turn, sparked a protest by the transporters.
Reports had it that NPA leased the controversial piece of land to Messrs. Tenzik Energy Limited for an undisclosed period.
According to a document sighted by Financial Street in Lagos, the originating summons by the claimants seek a perpetual injunction restraining the NPA from intimidating, detaining or threatening the applicants from source of livelihood.
The document also wants the court to also direct NPA to negotiate terms with members of the association on allocating the piece of land to the claimants.
Counsel to RTEAN, Chief Anayo Emeanua, in the document, maintained that the claimants had no other place to go than the court to protect them and their leaders from unlawful arrest, detention and forceful eviction from the facility.
The counsel argued that the alleged threat, arrest and detention by management of NPA without a court order was illegal, adding that it violated the applicants’ fundamental rights as guaranteed in Sections 33, 34, 35, 36 and 41 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
