The implications of the judgment which declared the collection of toll illegal on the Lekki/Ikoyi link bridge was the focus of argument on Monday at the Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos.
The Lagos State government and a Lagos based lawyer, Mr Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, argued back and forth during a hearing of the government’s application for a stay of execution of the judgment.
On March 28, a day after the judgment was delivered, the government had filed a notice of appeal and an application for a stay of execution of the judgment.
In the application for stay, the government asked the court to stop the execution of the judgment pending the determination of the appeal.
Mr Adegboruwa, who instituted the suit which led to the court judgment, told presiding Justice Saliu Seidu, that the Lagos State government had continually violated the judgment of his court by continuing to collect toll on the bridge.
“Right from the day judgment was delivered, tolling has continued on the bridge. They had shown that they were not going to obey the court’s judgment. As soon as the Attorney-General stepped out of the court, he had said they were not going to obey the judgment,” Adegboruwa said.
However, the state’s Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Ade Ipaye, who represented his office and the government, denied violating any court order.
Mr Ipaye maintained that the court in its judgment never made any declarative or consequential order barring toll collection on the bridge.
“The respondent (Adegboruwa) has also filed a cross-appeal, and the cross-appeal is to the effect that there was no declarative court order. I wonder why he is suggesting that we are the only one saying so.
“An alternative prayer in the government’s application was an order of injunction ordering parties to maintain status quo pending the determination of its appeal against the judgment. The status quo is what is currently going-on on the bridge,” Ipaye insisted.
Mr Adegboruwa disagreed with Ipaye’s claims, saying that the status quo was the situation before the suit was instituted. The lawyer, who accused government of contempt, said tolling only began “when your Lordship assumed jurisdiction to hear the matter”.
In opposing the application, Adegboruwa maintained that granting the stay of execution was not a relief a court would grant automatically.
“They have to show that there were exceptional circumstances. They have not shown that there are exceptional circumstances. Exceptional circumstances, if they exist, have been overruled by their illegal conduct,” he said.
Ipaye, who described the relief for an injunction as an alternative relief, said that it was in the interest of justice for the application to be granted.
“Since he has receipts for everything he pays on the bridge, his loss can always be remedied if the appeal fails. But if our appeal succeeds, there is no way we can capture our losses,” he said.
After hearing the arguments of the parties in the suit, Justice Saliu Saidu adjourned ruling on the application till April 25.
