LASG seeks dismissal of suit against bridge tolling

Lagos State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Ade Ipaye

 

Lagos  State Government on Monday asked a Federal High Court in Lagos to dismiss a suit challenging its plan to collect toll on the recently-constructed Lekki-Ikoyi suspension bridge.

The suit was filed by a human rights activist, Mr Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, challenging the legality of construction of a bridge on a federal navigable waterway and seeking to collect toll on same.

At the hearing on Monday, the state Attorney-General,  Mr Ade Ipaye, said a preliminary objection had been filed challenging the jurisdiction of the court to hear the suit.

He told the court that the applicant’s suit was incompetent and premature since there had yet to be a decision as to whether or not to collect toll on the bridge.

Ipaye said, “There    are incontrovertible facts that the bridge in question has not even been formally handed over to the Lagos State Government and so, the applicant’s action is too early in the day.

“The court does not deal with hypothetical cases of this nature, but with substantial evidence.”

According to him, the sole evidence in support of the applicant’s claim is the newspaper publication which does not testify to the veracity of the facts contained in it.

He argued that the National Inland Waterway Act did not prevent states from building bridges upon its waterway.

Ipaye argued that Section 315 (1) (b) of the Act empowers states to make laws touching on internal waterways.

He therefore urged the court to dismiss the suit for lacking merit, since there were no allegations that the bridge impedes navigation.

In his response, the applicant told the court that the pivotal issue before the court concerned the supremacy of two laws.

Adegboruwa said the NIWA Act enacted by the National Assembly vests all federal navigable waterways in the Federal Government.

He objected to the contention by Ipaye that the Lagos State Inland Waterway Law of 2011 had repealed the NIWA Act.

Adegboruwa said, “It is an anomaly for a state law to repeal a federal law. Section 4(5) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) provides for the superiority of federal laws over state laws and renders void, any law which is inconsistent with it.”

Justice Saliu Saidu reserved ruling for July 9.