By; ViTALIS UGOH, Calabar
A Federal High Court sitting in Calabar, has restrained the management of Federal Airport Authority of (FAAN) from evicting its tenant, Effanga Offiong Inyang operator of the restaurant/bar at the Margaret Ekpo international Airport car wash centre Calabar.
In a suit NO: FHC/CA/CS/79/2019 between Effanga Offiong and Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria FAAN, and six others as defendants, the Court ordered that the eviction be stopped.
Effanga and management of Airport Authority FAAN had problem when a concessionaire of FAAN, Mr. George Charles Ekpo subleted a shop which he rented for N45,000 per annum to Mr. Effanga Offiong and 3 other tenants at the sum of N250, 000 per annum.
Years later, Mr.George unilaterally increased the rent to N850,000 which Effanga and other two tenants are to pay to him annual rent even when he remits N45,000 to management of Airport Authority keeping aside N805,000 to himself.
Effanga protested the increment, because to him he now finds it difficult to meet up with payment of utility bills of water, electricity, value added tax VAT and others.
Effanga pleaded with George to assist him and two other tenants off set the utility bills which had accumulated to the tune of 2 million, but George remained intransigent to his tenants’ plight.
Irked by Effanga’s protest, George collaborated with head of civil department, Margaret Ekpo international Airport Calabar, Engr. Jesuorobo Christopher Osazee, and some security operatives to raid Effanga’s restaurant.
According to the suit, Osazee and George in May 4,stormed Effanga’s restaurant in company of the Divisional Police Officer DPO in charge of Margaret Ekpo international Airport police division, supol David Ekong, personnel of Nigeria Air force 207 Special Mobility Force attached to the airport, stormed Effanga’s business centre with some boys suspected to be thugs arranged by Mr. George .
The suit stated that the electricity water supply was cut of raided the restaurant/ bar with the roof of the restaurant pulled down with the sum of N950, 000 said to be operational cash of the businesses alleged to be missing.
According to the suit other harassment suffered by Effanga, includes detaining of Effanga by the Airport police DPO for two days where Effanga and one of his customers, Chukwuka Opara were compelled to pay N10,000 each for bail for daring to operate his restaurant beyond 7:pm.
The suit ordered FAAN to restore water and electricity supply to the business centre pending hearing and determination of a motion on notice with the case adjourned to September 30, for hearing.
Reacting to the issue via a telephone call, manager Margaret Ekpo international Airport, Mr. Hilary Umunna stated that he cannot talk on the issue as he isn’t competent to speak on the issue except those in FAAN’s corporate Affairs department.
Umunna said”We don’t talk from this angle, we have a corporate Affairs from Headquarters anything correspondence is handle by the corporate Affairs department”.
However, the Police Public Relations Officer PPRO in the state Irene Ugbo who was asked to comment on the issue said she is yet to be brief by the DPO in question stressing that the command will find out the extend to which the DPO in charge of Airport Police division for is involved in the matter for appropriate measures to be taken.
When our correspondent called Mr. George Charles Ekpo a 4th defendant in the suit to hear his own version of the story, Ekpo said, ” I do not think I have anything to say on this issue, the matter is already in court, let the court adjudicate on it”.
