The family of the late Kwara politician, Olusola Saraki, and the state government have returned to court following the breakdown of talks over the demolition of Ile Arugbo, a property which both parties lay claim on.
The legal representatives of both parties, on Monday, told a Kwara State High Court sitting in Ilorin that the out-of-court talks to resolve the matter had collapsed.
Justice Abiodun Adebara has now fixed March 25 for the hearing of the suit challenging the Kwara State Government’s revocation of the land.
The judge had at the last sitting of the court on January 24 advised the parties involved in the case to employ dialogue in resolving the issue in the interest of peace and harmony.
Thereafter, the parties held meetings on February 6 and 11 at the governor’s office in Ilorin.
However, counsel for Asa Investment Limited owned by late Saraki, Abdulrazeez Ibrahim, told the court that the peace talks collapsed over irreconcilable differences on the term of amicable settlement of the dispute.
Mr Ibrahim listed his client’s terms of settlement to include “the reversal of the revocation order placed on the disputed land, reconstruction of the partially demolished structures on the land and offering of apology to the aged women that were harassed on the night the structures were pulled down.”
He said the state government’s only term of settlement was the insistence that the revocation order placed on the disputed land stands because of public interest.
He, however, expressed the readiness of his clients to forgo the second and third demands in the interest of peace.
State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Salman Jawondo, representing Kwara State Government, said the peace talks collapsed “when the claimants came out frontally that their demand for the reversal of the revocation order placed on the disputed land was not negotiable.”
