Appeal Court Postpones Enugu Community Demolition Hearing to Oct. 28, Orders Respondent to Pay Costs

By Dennis Agbo

The Enugu division of the Court of Appeal has postponed the case to 28 October 2026. The case concerns the demolition of more than 300 houses in the Nkomoro‑Onuogba Nike community, located in Enugu East Local Government Area of Enugu State. The houses were reportedly demolished by an alleged land grabber while a land dispute was still pending in the Enugu State High Court.

The community challenged the High Court judgment, which was issued without proper legal representation for the residents. The appeal was heard on Thursday.

During the resumed hearing, the appellants’ counsel, Taiwo Kupulati (SAN), requested that the court dismiss an application his clients had filed on 13 February 2026 through their former lawyer.

Respondent counsel Benjamin Nwobodo opposed the withdrawal, arguing that it would constitute an abuse of court process. “You can’t file a fresh appeal without withdrawing the first,” Nwobodo said, and asked for an adjournment so he could gather all relevant documents.

Meanwhile, Kupulati sought an award of N2 million in damages from Nwobodo, claiming that the delay in the trial was due to Nwobodo’s own misconduct. He explained that he had taken the case from the previous lawyer because of errors in the earlier filings.

“All previous filings were done in error,” Kupulati said. “My client wants to withdraw all previous filings. There was no record of proceedings in the lower court. The judgment was delivered without my client being represented, and there was no fair hearing. An application to set aside the judgment was made because of the lack of a fair hearing, but no hearing took place. He further objected to the application for filing a counter‑affidavit unless the court declined his application; he asked for N2 million in costs and a short date for continuation of the matter.”

The Court of Appeal ruled that the respondent had not filed a counter‑claim even after being served in February. The panel awarded the cost of N250,000 against the respondent and adjourned the case to 28 October 2026.

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