By Favour Goodness
The Abuja division of the Federal High Court has fixed December 13 for continuation of hearing in a suit filed by the 36 States of the federation against the federal government, challenging the bid to deduct a whopping $418 million dollars from their bank accounts.
The sum is planned to be deducted by the federal government through the office of the Attorney General of the Federation AGF and Minister of Justice to pay contractors who allegedly worked for the state governments to secure the Paris club refund.
At Tuesday proceeding, Justice Ekwo granted leave to the Plaintiffs, (36 states) to regularize their processes that were filed out of time.
The court also gave permission for substituted service on some of the defendants who had allegedly refused to accept court processes/papers.
The motion for regularisation and for substituted service granted by the judge were agued by Mr. Jibrin Okutepa, SAN, on behalf of the States.
Drama, however, ensued when the judge was about to adjourn the matter, as some of the defendants made desperate efforts to argue their motions praying the court to discharge the order of interlocutory injunction granted in favour of the states against the deduction of the money by the federal government.
Counsel to two of the defendants, Chief Wole Olanipekun and Olusola oke, both Senior Advocates of Nigeria battled spiritedly through oral applications for the court to discharge the order of injunction.
They argued that by the practice direction of the court, the order of injunction ought to last for 14 days and that it should be deemed as expired and no longer in existence.
However, counsel to the states , Okutepa read out the order in the open court and submitted that until the motion for interlocutory injunction was decided, the interim order shall be in force and binding on all parties.
Justice Iyang counseled parties in the matter to tread softly, adding that the matter would be diligently determined.
The judge, thereafter, fixed December 13 for the court to attend to all pending applications and ordered that fresh hearing notice must be served on the parties.
In an interview with judicial reporters later, Mr Onyeka Nwokolo, SAN, who stood for Ned Nwoko and Linas International Ltd expressed disgust at the way and manner the Paris club refund was being politicized and used to blackmail some of the defendants.
According to him, the states on their own volition, issued Power of Attorney to some of the defendants to pursue the Paris club refund on their behalf, with a condition that 10 percent of the recovered money would be paid at the successful completion of their assignments, insisting that the Power of Attorney was binding on the parties.
Nwokolo urged the plaintiffs to be honorable in implementing the contractual terms rather than foot-dragging.
The senior lawyer revealed that a subsisting judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction had ordered the payment of the money to the contractors after the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC had thrice investigated and confirmed the authenticity of the contract.
Justice Ekwo had on November 5 stopped the federal government from going ahead to deduct the $418million dollars from the bank accounts of the 36 states governments
The Judge had issued a restraining order against the federal government following an exparte application argued by counsel to the 36 states Messrs Jibrin Otukepa and Ahmed Raji, both Senior Advocates of Nigeria
While moving the application, Otukepa who led the legal team of the states, had told the Judge that the states would be completely crippled if the federal government should go ahead to deduct the huge amount from the bank accounts of their clients.
The Senior lawyer had told the Judge that the federal government predicated the plan to deduct the $418million from the state account monthly on debt service for contracts allegedly executed for the states.
However, Otukepa said the 36 state Attorneys-General had scrutinized the purported contract and judgment and found that the states were not parties to court action that resulted in the judgment debt.
He had further submitted that the purported contract claimed to have been executed for the states was not known to any of the 36 state governments and was, therefore, a phony contract.
The Senior lawyer further told the court that the federal government was the only party to the court case that brought about the judgment and therefore such judgment is not binding on the state government.
Defendants in the suit are the Attorney General of the Federation AGF, Finance Minister, Accountant General of the Federation and all banks in Nigeria, among others.
