Land Dispute: Court Orders MTN To Remove Mast

For its failure to prove that it legally acquired a piece of land on which its telecommunication mast was erected in Omagwa, Ikwerre Local Government Area, a High Court in Port Harcourt has orded GSM giant, MTN, to remove its mast from the disputed land.

Delivering a judgement in a suit brought before it by one Rev. (Canon) Daniel Wele Achinike against MTN Nigeria communication Limited, Mr. Chikadibia Wele and Mr. Babatunde Ojonne recently, Justice Boma Diepiri declared that the telecommunication company failed to show evidence of due acquisition of the property.

Justice Diepiri in a three point order to the defendant declared that MTN’s entry into the Wele family land was illegal, null and void, ordering the company to remove the mast within 14 days of the judgement.

While frowning at the manner the telecommunication company acquired the said property, Diepiri said I have examined the statement of defence of the 1st and 2nd defendants, and can confidently say that there is nowhere in those defences wherein they raised the question of the identity of the land in dispute.

“I am worried by the fact that the second defendant led no evidence in this case. This is a defendant who is alleged to have gone into the land of claimants’ family and erected a communication mast without the claimants’ consent, yet he did not deem it necessary to explain how it came into the land”, the judge said.

The High Court Judge noted that the law permits parties to limit themselves to the issues, raised by their parties in their pleadings and not otherwise.

He stated that the claimant, Rev. Achinike is the head of the Wele family a position which empowers him to hold the land in trust for the benefit of other members of the family.

He, however, frowned at the way the first defendant disposed