Lagos magistrate court accused of perverting justice

A Lagos magistrate’s court has been accused of corruption and perversion of justice.
The accusation against the court with specific reference to suit No: MCA/1910/2013 on a property bought by one Malam Bamanga Adamu, a customs officer, alleged that the chief magistrate, Ojo District, Mr. Tesilim Shomade, heard a case that has already been decided in another court.
Adamu, in a petition dated February 25, 2015, a copy of which was made available to our correspondent, accused the magistrate of allegedly delivering a judgment despite knowing that it had already been obtained at Apapa Chief Magistrate’s Court.
The petitioner stated that at the time he bought the property, one Dr. F.C Oluigbo was a sitting tenant, whom he took to court and obtained judgment to evict at the Chief Magistrate Court I, Apapa.
“Magistrate Shomade purportedly granted an order for substituted service by pasting it in the property in which my brother was living with his children and wife,” he said.
The petitioner alleged also that the magistrate delivered a judgment on a case he had no jurisdiction, adding that the title document of both parties in respective affidavits suggested that the title of the property was an issue before the matter was ever filed in his court.
When contacted, the magistrate said all the allegations in the petition of Mr. Adamu dated February 25, 2015 were mischievous, ludicrous and a public show or ignorance.
He said suit no MCA/1910/2013 was assigned to magistrate court, Ojo, by the chief magistrate (Admin) at Apapa.
The proof of service is in the court file. The proof of service is an affidavit dated August 26, 2013 of Oloruntimilehin Owoseni, sheriff of chief magistrate court Apapa who made an oath that on August 24, 2013 at 6:35am, at 201 Road, A Close, Block 4, Flat 3, Festac, he personally served the defendant the writ of summons.
Shomade said the court did not grant the application of the plaintiff’s counsel for trial upon sighting the proof of service but granted the defendant another chance by ordering the plaintiff’s attorney to file and serve the defendant his written statement on oath in accordance with Section 27 (1) (2) of the Lagos State Tenancy Law 2011.
Shomade also said that he was not aware a court had heard the matter before. He further explained that after the judgment had been delivered, two senior police officers came to him over the matter but that he advised them to appeal the judgment.