Our attention (bellnewsonline.com) has been drawn to the publication by Pp: Awuka and Okafor legal practitioners threatening our publishing company as she discharge her constitutional duty investigating the demolition of the Enugu widow’s residence in Edoji. The company has simply described the action of these legal practitioners as trespass.
Trespass to person is any intentional interference with the body of another person. It’s interference with the body of another person or his liberty… (Cf. E. Malemi, Law of Tort. 2nd edition. Princeton Publishing company, 2013. P.156)
We wish to first inform them on a friendly note that the activities of our company: bellnewsonline.com is protected by an ACT is called FOIA. What is the Freedom of Information Act in Nigeria?
An Act to make public records and information more freely available, provide for public access to public records and information, protect public records and information to the extent consistent with the public interest… The Act covers all recorded information held by a public authority. It is not limited to official documents and it covers, for example, drafts, emails, notes, recordings of telephone conversations and CCTV recordings. Nigeria Freedom of Information (FOI) Act was enacted in May 28, 2011.
On the strength of the foregoing, we wish to notify the public that we have Mr. Augustine Ekechukwu (Agunyi) on record , we equally have the demolition company on record and the Board Chairman Anambra State Physical Planning on record together with the head of the body so mentioned in Nnewi North LGA.
Thus, as publishing company, we published information available to us and we are open to more information on the ongoing investigation. If Augustine Ekechukwu and his legal team has more meaningful information like copy of the court order for the demolition or the demolition notices served or police statement written on the day the said Government Agents were bullied, we will be happy to publish same immediately it’s forwarded to us.
Meanwhile, for a publication to be defamatory, the information must be false (cf. Law of Tort p. 532). When we see you in court, we will make our facts public and present witnesses or victims of the Ugwu Ahaba Edoji criminal conversion titled Merry land Estate or whatever they succeeded in naming it with Corporate Affairs Commission.
We wish to remind the general public that in Eze v Obiefuna, ‘the Supreme Court said that trespass to land, consists of the slightest disturbance of the possession of land by a person who cannot show a better right to possession.
Therefore Mrs. Ani whose property was demolished by the company hired by Mr. Augustine Ekechukwu (Agunyi) in Edoji has “the right to acquire and own land or immovable property any where in Nigeria. This fundamental right is guaranteed in the Nigerian Constitution”. Thus, Lord Camden CJ stated the rule of law in Entick v Carrington ‘every invasion of property, be it ever so minute is a trespass”.
Bellnewsonline.com is strongly advising Mr. Augustine Ekechukwu to furnish the company with the name or names of the person who send him to contract the demolishing company or face the music alone in court if at the end of the day no court order is provided.
As at the time of filing this report the leadership of Edoji Community both administrative and traditional still maintains that no Estate in Edoji and that the land in question is their ancestral land and they are challenging the trespassing party to provide letter of authority issued to them by the institutions in the community to convert their land to personal property.
Stay with Bell News online.com as we continue to investigate the parties involve directly or indirectly in the demolition of a widow’s house in Edoji among other houses that are not even on any known access road in the first place