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| Osita Opara, Kumuyi & Udensi. |
Remember the N750 million naira case brought against the Incorporated Trustees of the Deeper Life Bible Church and a one-time governorship aspirant in Abia State on the platform of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGAC, ONE Chief Chike Udensi by an Abuja based realtor, Osita Opara before the High Court of the FCT which was adjourned?
The case which was brought before Justice U.P. Kekemeke
in the suit marked CV/1756/2021 had Osita Opara through his lawyer,
Okechukwu Okafor suing the duo, Deeper Life Church and Chief Chikwe Udensi for
refusing to pay his five percent agency fee from a transaction involving the
sum of N750 million, which he claimed avers sometime on February 3, 2020, when
the defendants met him and engaged him to get them a mansion in Abuja.
Mr. Opara said he procured the property (valued at N750
million) as requested by Deeper Life Church and Chike Udensi and which put his
agency fee as agreed at N37.5 million, being the five percent of the net value
of the property. Both parties had agreed that Deeper Life Church would
relinquish its former property to the second defendant in exchange for the new
property procured by the claimant, Opara but the claimant averred also that the
defendants would jointly pay him the sum of N37.5 million as his agency fee as
agreed by both parties, but when the contract was concluded, the defendants
refused to pay the agreed sum, alleging their refusal to pay prompted his
lawyer to write to the defendants, demanding the said fees, which made him (the
claimant) to seek the order of the court to compel the defendants to pay
him his N37.5 million for facilitating the purchase of the property.
When the matter came up in court, there were arguments
between the lawyers of both the claimant, who also is the respondent and those
of the 1st and 2nd defendants, prompting the
trial judge, Justice Peter Kekemike to adjourn the case till the 23rd of
January 2024.
When the case up for hearing last week, the 2nd defendant (Chief Chikwe Udensi) Notice of Objection dated 25th day of May, 2022 prays the Court for the following orders: 1. That the Writ of Summons has expired, 2. That 2nd Defendant was served with an expired writ.
The Court heard the argument of both parties on the Notice of Preliminary Objection. The Writ, the subject matter of this application was issued on the 27/07/21. It was served on the 1st Defendant (The Incorporated Trustees of Deeper Life Bible Church) on the 26/10/21 which was precisely within 3 months.
The 2nd Defendant this platform learned was served the 14th of March, 2022 which was about 8 months after the issuance of the Writ because it was difficult serving him as he had relocated from his known address. The court however said that at the time the 2nd Defendant was served, the Writ cannot be said to have expired as 1st Defendant was served within time. In other words, the Writ was still alive.
The
Claimant (Mr. Osita Opara) also disclosed a good and acceptable reason why the
Writ was not served on the 2nd Defendant on time and in the circumstance of
this case, the Court had the jurisdiction to adjudicate on the case. The 2nd Defendant’s
Notice of Preliminary Objection failed and was accordingly dismissed.
The case against Deeper Life Church and Chief Chike
Udensi as can be seen is water tight and with the way this is going, they are losing
ground, so the best thing for them to do
to save face if to opt for out of court settlement which would be like a soft
landing, this is because, with the way this matter is headed, they would lose
and very hard too.
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