12th February, 2025
Michael Adesina
The Ogun State Government has set the record straight, dismissing reports that the Court of Appeal dismissed its appeal against Datkems, a company linked to Senator Gbenga Daniel.
According to a statement by Hon. Kayode Akinmade, Special Adviser on Media and Strategy to the governor, the government withdrew one of its four appeals due to an error in the title, but the remaining three appeals are still pending.
The government claims that Datkems misrepresented the withdrawal as a judicial victory, despite the Court of Appeal not making any pronouncements on the substantive issues.
The statement said: “The Ogun State Government still has three pending appeals against Datkems before the Ibadan Division of the Court of Appeal.
“With respect to a fourth appeal, the government observed an error in the title of the Notice of Appeal and opted not to proceed with that appeal but to file another. Because the government had expressly informed the court of its decision to abandon the appeal, the court took a procedural decision to end the appeal and delete the appeal number. This is without prejudice to the right of the Ogun State Government to reinitiate the appeal.
“The fact remains that the Ogun State Government still has three strong appeals against Datkems’ business. Those appeals are pending, and ongoing, and have been adjourned to 19 May 2025 for a hearing. Datkems has yet to submit any arguments in those appeals.
“Datkems is understandably eager to exaggerate its position in the court cases, just as it was eager to misrepresent its legal status in the court cases too. Datkems filed the case against the Ogun State Government on 7 September 2023, describing itself as Datkems Enterprises Limited, but the Ogun State Government’s diligent investigation exposed it as a fraud, as no company named Datkems Enterprises had ever been registered. This, it said, made the case incompetent. Datkems had no answer to that point at the trial court and has had no answer to this day. That is why rather than face the appeals, it is busy presenting minor administrative decisions as huge judicial victories. Time will tell. And the Ogun State Government will prevail.”
The controversy began after Datkem plaza in Ijebu-Ode was demolished in September 2023.
