The federal high court, Awka has transferred a fundamental human rights violation suit brought before it by the Diocese on the Niger, Anglican Communion to Anambra Judiciary.

Justice I B Gafai, who had been handling the matter, made the transfer to enable Anambra state chief judge to do a proper filling and determination for the case.

The Anglican Diocese had dragged Anambra State government to the federal high court over ownership of Bishop Crowther Memorial Primary School, Onitsha.

The judge while transferring the matter asked the state government to first determine ownership of the land before venturing into fundamental human rights aspect violation.

“The purpose of the transfer is to enable the chief judge to reassign the case in order to first determine the rightful owner of the piece of land in question.

“The determination of the ownership will precede the issue of fundamental Human Rights infringement.

“It is of no benefit to either party to rule on an alleged human rights violations, when the owner of the said land has yet to be determined,’’ Justice Gafai said.

Nnamdi Ibegbu, SAN, the counsel to the Diocese on the Niger and the plaintiff, had during his submission told the court that the Anglican Church had for decades occupied the disputed land that he claimed, the government had always known.

“The state government used opportunity provided by presence of Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, as a ploy to fence the place chasing the worshippers away,’’ Ibegbu said.

The lawyer also claimed that government brought policemen at the gate and forced the congregation to worship on the street.

He enjoined the court to allow the congregation back on the land, to continue its normal worship in its former place of worship, pending the determination of the substantive suit before it.

Patrick Ikwueto, SAN, the lead counsel to the state government, had argued that the applicants’ claim of fundamental human rights violation was inappropriate, null and void.

He urged the court to strike out the matter for a lack of jurisdiction.

“If what has in dispute is the claim of ownership of the said school premises, they should not come to the Federal High Court,’’ Ikwueto said.

Ikwueto stressed that the ownership of the school became an issue between Anambra State Government and the Diocese on the Niger, Anglican Communion shortly after the flood disaster in 2018.

He noted that the school was one of the designated IDP camps in the state, stressing that trouble started when the.

– March 01, 2019 @ 17:10 GMT |