Lagos CJ petitioned over alleged discrepancies in car auction sale
Lagos State Chief Judge, Justice Kazeem Olanrewaju Alogba, has been urged to investigate the auction sale of a Toyota Corolla on December 19, 2021, by the Deputy Sheriff of the court. Claimant and Judgment Creditor in a petition dated July 27, 2021, regarding suit no MCL/87 3/2013 between Abiodun Akinkoye Odunayo and Mr. Jude Ator, asked Justice Alogba to investigate the alleged manipulation of proceeds of the sales in the public auction by the Deputy Sheriff.
A petitioner, Mrs. Odunayo, said the Toyota Corolla car was a subject of execution levied in her favor on December 19, 2017, attached and taken to court premises. According to her, the car was neither vandalized nor destroyed at the court premises, where it was parked during the EndSARS protest, but remained intact.
Mrs. Odunayo stressed that she participated in the public auction for the sale of the car and made a bid up to N1.2 million, while another person bidding N2.7 million. According to her, the Deputy Sheriff, surprisingly informed her afterwards that the final offer from the highest bidder stood at N552, 000.
“I witnessed the public auction together with others,” she said. The petitioner further claimed that after the sales, the Deputy Sheriff, in a letter informed her that, “a Toyota Corolla with Reg. No. BDG 602 EC was sold by public auction to the highest bidder in the sum of N525, 000.
The only amount recoverable by the Claimant/Judgment Creditor stands at N525, 000 less the government deductions.” She said the amount stated was contrary to the amount the highest bid for the car.
To this end, she is demanding that justice must prevail by paying her the exact amount realised from the sale of the Toyota Corolla 2005 model. The petitioner said that her petition dated November 30,2021 to the Chief Judge, which was received by the office was not replied three months after, The Trumpet gathered.
“It is pertinent to know my lord that I have waited for about three months, since I submitted my petition and I am yet to be contacted or informed of any development in respect of the petition, copy of which is hereby attached for your Lordship’s quick reference and necessary action.
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“Waiting patiently for my lord’s intervention in this matter of open fraud that someone thinks can be swept under the carpet,” the petitioner stated. However, the acting Chief Register, Mr. T. A. Elias, who in a letter dated March 15, 2022 in response to her petition, stated that her petitions dated November 30, 2021 and March 1, 2022 in respect of the subject matter were not successful.
The letter read: “A discreet investigation of your petition was conducted and no wrongdoing has been found on the side of the Lagos State Judiciary and its appointed Auctioneer. “You are free to furnish any proof of your allegation, if you so wish.
Accordingly, the petition is unsuccessful.”
