The Cross State High Court sitting in Effraya, Etung local government area of the State, has extended an order restraining the State government from evicting cocoa allottees from government-owned Cocoa Estate allocated to them by the immediate-past administration in the State.

The court, presided over by Justice Amajama Enenji, in suit No: HE/16/2024 between Mr. Charles Mgbe and other allottees of 1,415 hectares of cocoa plots, and the Cross River State government, ordered that the allottees be allowed to continue to work on their cocoa farms up to May 6, 2024.

The extension was considered by the court following agreement by lawyers of the claimant, Mba Ukweni (SAN), and I.I Eval, Esq, who held brief for W. S. Ogar, counsel to the defendant.

In a brief interview with journalists shortly after adjournment of the matter,

the claimants’ counsel, Mba Ukweni, who spoke on the matter, stressed that his clients within the arm of the law were in order to continue with work on their farms genuinely allocated to them pending further court orders.

Ukweni averred that the allottees would, therefore, have to continue to work on thier farms and await the decision of the court.

He stressed that the court has granted an order of injunction restraining the state government from chasing the allottees out of their cocoa farms allocated to them by the immediate-past administration.

“So they have no reason not to continue their work, it’s rather the government and the people they have appointed that should be worried, because if they do anything contrary to the court order, it could be visited with sanctions,” Ukweni warned.