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Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Power outage cripples proceedings at Lagos High Court

Power outage has since Monday crippled legal proceedings at the Lagos High Court complex.

Faulty cables belonging to the Power Holding Company of Nigeria plunged the entire courtrooms in darkness, forcing most of the judges to adjourn the cases before them.

Correspondent, who monitored activities at the court complex on Wednesday, gathered that the power generating set at the court complex was faulty.

No official of the court was willing to volunteer information on the power outage.

One of the cases stalled on Wednesday was a suit challenging the planned collection of tolls on the Lekki-Epe Expressway by a construction firm, Lekki Concession Company.

The suit before Justice Bolaji Candide-Johnson was filed by a Lagos-based lawyer, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa.

The Company and Lagos State Government are defendants in the suit.

Although all the parties in the suit were in court, the case was not called up for hearing as the entire court was dark and stuffy.

A court clerk told the litigants that the case would now be heard on Oct. 28.

The clerk also advised other litigants to take dates for their cases, explaining that the court could not sit because of the power situation.

Adegboruwa is praying the court to declare that the planned toll collection is unlawful.

He argued that the Lagos State Government’s had the statutory responsibility of providing roads and other infrastructure for the residents, and should not introduce toll gates.

The plaintiff is seeking a court declaration that motorists in Lagos are entitled to ply roads in the state without paying any toll or tariff.

Lagos State Government had approved that the Company should reconstruct the expressway and recoup its expenses through tolls’ collection on the road for about 25 years.

The toll collection has generated a lot of controversy as Lekki residents kicked against it.

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