Members of the Society for Professional Valuation (SPV) have threatened to file a lawsuit against the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV) over alleged defamatory publications.
Addressing reporter at the weekend in Lagos, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees (BoT) of the newly constituted SPV, Enitan Olusola Solomon, urged the institution and the media platforms used to “malign” them to immediately retract the publications and apologise or face a legal suit.
Solomon was accompanied at the media briefing by other officials of the society, including Fabiyi Isaac Adewale and Bello Muhammed Faisal.
The NIESV had placed an advertorial signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Monday Ahiwe and National Secretary, Mr. Shola Abeji in a national daily on September 19, 2019, suspending and expelling the members from the institution for registering a new association.
The institution insisted that the move amounted to misconduct and was inimical to the overall interest of NIESV.
But Solomon, a fellow of the institution, said the registration of another body for estate valuers had not breached any aspect of the nation’s constitution.
He said: “Section 40 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria provides, amongst others things, that: ‘Every person shall be free to assemble freely and associate with other persons’. In particular, he may form or belong to any political party, trade union or any other association for the protection of his interest.”
He added: “The Society for Professional Valuation has taken notice of series of electronic and print advertorials of politically motivated defamation witch-hunting and vindictiveness against its numerous members and its trustees by the NIESV.
“The publication maligned and seeks to destroy the personal and professional character, reputation of Enitan Olusola Solomon, Fabiyi Isaac Adewale and Bello Muhammed Faisal, our trustees.
“We wish to acclaim that our trustees hold a glorious, rewarding future for professional valuation in Nigeria in the interest of the general public, by providing trust and excellence in professional valuation service.
“Our trustees are of implicitly good professional characters, personally, academically and occupationally, putting professional ethics and high integrity above all else, which has brought a variance of ideology with NIESV Council membership.”
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