The Ore Division of the Ondo High Court has struck out the memorandum of appearance and statement of defence filed by the Ondo attorney general in the case involving the state government, a private company, Sao Agro-Allied Services Limited, and over 10,000 farmers from Oluwa Forest Reserve.

The court’s decision came after the aggrieved farmers protested against their forceful eviction from the forest reserve and sued the Ondo government through their legal counsel, Tope Temokun.  

At the hearing of the case on Monday, with the suit number HOR/14/2023, the court, which was presided over by Justice Aderemi Adegoroye, was confronted by the issue of the right person to represent the state government in the case.  

Olajide Ajana, the counsel, had announced his appearance for the state government and also applied to withdraw all processes previously filed by the attorney general’s office, including a memorandum of appearance, statement of defence, and counter-affidavits. 

However, counsel to the claimants, Mr Temokun, was quick to object to the application, arguing that the defence counsel’s proposed action was an abuse of the court process and could not be granted without express authority from the attorney general. 

He argued that prior conflicting actions, such as the defence counsel’s initial claim that he was representing the state government under the “ostensible authority” of the attorney general and the subsequent filing of an appearance and other processes by the attorney general’s office, raised concerns about the issue of appearance.

While positing that the scenario suggests a lack of authority, Mr Temokun further argued that the memorandum of appearance filed by the attorney general’s office rests on the presumption of regularity that the defence counsel’s oral claims could not simply rebut. 

According to him, under section 168 (1) of the Evidence Act, the presumption of regularity could only be countered with solid evidence, like a signed fiat, or through the withdrawal of the attorney’s filed processes by an official from its office. 

After hearing from both counsels, the court ruled that the attorney general’s personal appearance was not necessary to authorise the representation of the Ondo government by the counsel to Sao Agro-Allied Services Limited. 

The judge consequently struck out the separate processes, including a memorandum of appearance and statement of defence filed by the attorney general’s office.

He, however, adjourned the case to May 28, 2024 for further hearing.  

Last May, the court granted an interim injunction, restraining the state gov­ernment and SAO Agro-Allied Services Limited, among others, from further grading the cocoa plantations of the farmers.

The farmers, mostly in cocoa plantations, had protested against the state government’s forceful eviction from the forest reserve. 

They also complained that they pay the government as much as N5 million annually as land dues and have been farming on the land for over 20 years.