Court strikes out suit seeking to dethrone village head

The 14-year-old legal battle over the village headship of Ikot Ekop in Ibiono Ibom Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State has finally been laid to rest.

This follows the judgment of an Uyo High Court which has dismissed the case for want of jurisdiction and struck out the suit seeking to dethrone the Village Head of Ikot Ekop, Chief Asuakak Effiong Brown, popularly known as Chief Aloysius Effiong Brown.

In a one-hour judgement delivered today, the court presided over by Justice Ntong Ntong said, “Chief Clement Bassey Udo who claimed to be the Village Head elect of Ikot Ekop, approached the Court for an order to restrain Chief Asuakak Effiong Brown from parading himself as the Village Head of the community.”

Justice Ntong said, “The matter commenced on 22nd December 2010 without a proper and valid writ of summon which robbed the court of the requisite jurisdiction to hear and determine the case, hence the Court cannot make any consequential order as to who is the Village Head or not.”

He said, “Although the claimant, Chief Clement Bassey Udo had a genuine intention and desire to champion his case and grievances, through his lawyer, he did not approach the court properly as required by Law.”

The Judge noted that in the course of reading the voluminous file, which passed through his three learned brothers, including the retired State Chief Judge, Justice Godwin Abraham, Justice Margaret-Mary Udoma and Justice Edem Akpan, he “discovered that the originating writ of summon and the statement of claim were not signed, just as the lifespan of the writ had expired even before it was amended and served on the defendants in 2012.”

According to the court, “an expired writ is no writ and to proceed with such a dead writ is like giving a dead man medicine in an attempt to resuscitate him.”

Justice Ntong further held that “there is uncontroverted evidence that Chief Asuakak Effiong Brown had been recognised by the Governor of Akwa Ibom State in line with Section 15 of Traditional Rulers Law and that the Law presumes that due process was followed, hence he “has no judicial powers to disturb such a traditional recognition.”