The Magistrate Court 3 in Owerri, presided over by Magistrate Tochi Agumadu, Tuesday vacated an earlier order of committal to one month in prison of the four tenants of the Imo NUJ building situated on Portharcourt Road, Owerri, now referred to as NUJ 4.
The Imo NUJ counsel, Vitalis Nwonu had in his motion argued that he came for the vacation of the committal order on the persons sent to prison by Enedo General Services referred to as “unknown persons.”
He went further to state that since the judgment was made in error and since the High Court in Owerri last Wednesday vacated her earlier order of granting ownership of the building to Enedo, it had become necessary for the magistrate court to vacate the order for which Enedo came to the magistrate court.
Before vacating the committal order, Magistrate Tochi Agumadu said she had acted on what was presented to her by Enedo and their counsel, adding that when the personal belongings of the tenants were removed the first time, they should have run to the court to report.
However, she admitted that: ” Every human being makes mistakes. Nobody will say he has not made any mistake before. I only acted on what was presented to me. They told me that the unknown persons were still there, so I gave the order for their arrest and committal. Now that you have presented your own case and shown evidence of service to the other party, I will act on it and vacate the committal order.”
