Operators of parks and gardens in Abuja under the aegis of the Association of Parks and Garden Owners have asked the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to restrain the Minister, Mohammed Bello from giving effect to his directive banning alcohol sale and ordering parks/gardens to close by 7:00 p.m.
They stated, in a motion on notice filed by their lawyer, Mbanefo Ikwegbue that the FCT Minister’s threat to commence the enforcement of the directive was an affront to the Judiciary because the issue was a subject of a suit marked: CV/408/2008 already pending before the court.
The park/garden operators are praying the court for an order of interlocutory injunction restraining the Minister and his agents from enforcing the purported regulation of 7:00 p.m. as the maximum hours of operations of parks and gardens in Abuja daily pending the determination of the pending suit.
They added that the issue, which is the subject of an existing dispute between the parties, is now sub judice and constitutes a subject of litigation before a competent court of law.
The applicants stated that while the suit is still pending before the court, the defendant (FCT) Minister Mohammed Bello has proceeded to issue a directive on television threatening to enforce the purported regulation for Parks and Gardens in the FCT to close by 7:00 p.m. as regulation time on daily basis.
They stated, in a supporting affidavit, that they were never consulted when such a regulation was being deliberated upon let alone when it was passed as a law.
The operators averred that the minister’s decision in promulgating the purported regulation was arbitrary and oppressive, bearing in mind that the FCT is a secular city.
They contend that the hidden intention behind the so oppressive regulation was to stop the sale of alcoholic beverages in parks and gardens in the FCT.