Pipeline Demolition: Court Orders Substituted Service, Adjourns Case to June 19

The Rivers State High Court sitting in Port Harcourt has granted an application for substituted service on one of the companies in the suit instituted by residents of Ntamoku Ayambo Pipeline Estate, Kristal Polis Limited, following the claimant’s inability to serve the company directly.

The presiding judge in the suit, Justice Rita Oguguo, on Friday, May 22, 2026 when the case came up for hearing, ordered that the defendants be served via newspaper publication and by posting the processes on the court’s notice board.

The Ntamoku Ayambo Pipeline Estate residents are the claimants while Renaissance Africa Energy Company Limited, Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), WAGL Energy Limited, and Kristal Polis Limited are the defendants in the suit.

During the hearing, Counsel to the claimants, Eugene Odey informed the court that efforts to serve Kristal Polis Limited had been unsuccessful, prompting an application to effect service through alternative means.

“What happened in court today is that we haven’t served Kristal Polis, so we filed an application before the court to serve them via substituted means which the court granted.”

“The court granted that we should serve them by newspaper publication and by posting copies in the court’s noticeboard”.

In a related development, Odey explained that the claimants have filed an application seeking to join the Rivers State Government as a party to the suit, noting that this follows claims made by the defendants in their counter-affidavit that the demolition in dispute was carried out by the state government.

Counsel to the claimants argued that the Rivers State Government must be joined in the matter to clarify its role in the alleged demolition exercise.

“We have filled an application to join the Rivers State Government in the suit because the defendants in their counter affidavits alleged that the demolition was initiated by the Rivers State Government and not them.”

“So, when we found that in their response, we found it necessary that Rivers State Government must also come to explain if in deed they are the ones who initiated the demolition exercise”.

Additionally, an application has been filed to join the Jumbo House, Se-Alabo Clinton Dan-Jumbo, who is the Chief and Head of Dan-Jumbo House, as interested parties in the case.

According to Odey, the Jumbo House is being joined in the suit as land owners of the area under dispute, while Chief Dan-Jumbo, is being joined as the next most senior Chief in the Jumbo Group of Houses.

He explained that the claimants maintain that given its status as owner of the property at the centre of the dispute, its inclusion became necessary to determine issues surrounding ownership, acquisition, and compensation, noting that the court needs to ascertain whether the defendants lawfully acquired the entire property or only a portion of it.

“If the defendants are saying that they acquired the property, then obviously the Jumbo family needs to come to court to say whether in deed they acquired all that portion of the land that is now sought to be demolished, or it was just part and to what extent the defendants acquired”.

All pending applications, including those for joinder, are scheduled to be heard on the next adjourned date, Friday, June 19, 2026.