Court voids dissolution of Onitsha south landlords’ executives, awards N1m damages

 

By Sunny A. David

The Federal High Court sitting in Awka has nullified the dissolution of the elected executive members of the Onitsha South Landlords’ Association (Fegge Layout) by Hon. Emeka Orji, the Transition Committee Chairman of Onitsha South Local Government Area.

Delivering judgment in suit No. FHC/AWK/CS/236/2024, on Friday, June 27, 2025, Justice Evelyn N. Anyadike held that the Chairman lacked the statutory powers to dissolve the association’s executives and replace them with a caretaker committee.

The Incorporated Trustees of Onitsha South Landlords’ Association, alongside four of its executive members—Mazi Samuel Ezeilo, Elder Joseph Okafor, Prince Rex Wilson Anyoaha, and Hon. Ndubuisi Umeh—had dragged Orji and ten others, including the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), before the court.

The applicants challenged the dissolution of their leadership on March 25, 2024, during a meeting convened by the council Chairman at the Onitsha South Local Government Secretariat, Fegge, Onitsha. They argued that the imposition of a caretaker committee infringed on their constitutional rights and violated the internal affairs of the association.

In her ruling, Justice Anyadike declared the purported dissolution null and void, stressing that it was carried out without requisite authority. She further ruled that the appointment of the 2nd to 8th respondents as caretaker committee members by the 1st respondent was unconstitutional and amounted to a flagrant violation of the association’s independence.

The court also issued a perpetual injunction restraining the respondents, their agents, and privies from parading themselves as caretaker committee members of the association.

Additionally, Justice Anyadike awarded N1 million in general damages against the respondents in favour of the applicants led by Prince Rex Wilson Anyoaha.

The judgment is seen as a landmark decision affirming the autonomy of registered associations and curtailing undue interference by government officials in their internal administration.