NNPC rent case: Plaintiffs decry move to frustrate case

The over 500 residents of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) estates over the weekend decried way the defendants in their suit (No. KAD/437/2015) before a Kaduna High Court are frustrating the case. The defendants have reconstituted their legal team for the third time since the case was filed on 7th July, 2015.  Plaintiff counse, […]

The over 500 residents of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) estates over the weekend decried way the defendants in their suit (No. KAD/437/2015) before a Kaduna High Court are frustrating the case.
The defendants have reconstituted their legal team for the third time since the case was filed on 7th July, 2015.
 Plaintiff counse, Nsikak Udoh told the court that the defendants including NNPC Pension Fund (1st), Zonal Manager, NNPC (2nd) and the Group Managing Director NNPC (3rd) are obviously frustrating the case.
Residents of the NNPC estate in Kaduna had dragged the defendants to court over abandonment, negligence of the estate and rent increase.
 Daily Trust reports that the federal government had directed that all federal government houses be sold on owner-occupier basis and the NNPC Abuja estate located in Garki was sold while other estates built over 35 years ago were commercialized and set aside to generate money for pension fund.
 Plaintiff counsel observed, “Records will show that this is the third time the defendants are reconstituting the legal team to defend this suit. I think the entire aim is to frustrate the case.”
Counsel to the 3rd defendant, Ibrahim Adamu asked for a short adjournment to react to the pending motion claiming he had just come into the matter.
But plaintiff counsel opposed the application saying he considered the application very ambiguous.
 Parts of the claims by the residents read: “Residents have been paying their rent for the past 15 years, even though the landlords abandoned the estate with cases of serious roof leakage and fallen ceilings, cracks on building walls, collapse of soak away pits, frequent electric failure with cases of residents staying without electricity for over 12 months and collapse of water network which pushed residents to building personal soak away pits and boreholes.”