A former President of the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP), Ledum Mitee, has dragged the Federal Government to court challenging its failure to repair some parts of the East/West Road.
Joined in the action is the attorney general and minister of justice and the minister of Niger Delta Affairs.
Mr. Mittee is filing the suit on behalf of himself and the people of Eleme, Ogoni, Okrika, Ogo-Bolo and Opobo.
Others are Andoni and Akwa Ibom State as well as commuters of the Port Harcourt-Onne axis of the East/West Road.
In suite No. FHC/PH/FHR/158/2017, filed before a Federal High Court, Port Harcourt, Mr. Mittee insisted the government’s failure to fix the road violated his constitutional rights to freedoms of movement and association.
He also blamed the government for being responsible for the carnage witnessed along the major highway linking South-south states to the South-west zone.
The suite is backed up with a five-paragraph affidavit pursuant to Order II, rules I and 3 of the Fundamental Rights (Enforcement Procedure) Rules 2009 and Sections 40, 41 (1) and 42 (1b) of the 1999 Constitution.
He avers that the death trap which the Eleme-Onne Junction section of the East/West Road has turned into is occasioned by government’s insufficient provision of funds to complete the road.
The former MOSOP president also insisted that the imbalance in the allocation of funds the road project also violated his constitutional right to freedom from discrimination.
He averred that he can no longer attend courts in Eleme and Bori, Ogoni, all in Rivers State due to the sorry state of the portion of the road, a situation he said has led to his loss of income.
He also maintained that he can no longer travel to his village to associate with his family members and attend to their needs at home.
Mr. Mitte attributed the incessant motor accidents and the concomitant loss of lives on the road to negligence on the part of the government.
“And by allocating and providing more funds to similar projects in other parts of the country and making very meagre and hopeless inadequate allocation of fund and providing no disbursement for the completion of the Eleme-Onne Junction section of the East/West Road amounts to discrimination which is an infringement of my fundamental right,” Mr. Mitee stated in the suite.
He, therefore, prayed the court to direct the Federal Government to fund the completion of the affected section of the East/West Road from Eleme Junction on Aba Port Harcourt Expressway.
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