By Jude-Ken Ojinnaka
A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos, presided by Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke on Thursday adjourned till June 27 for further hearing in an ongoing contempt suit initiated by the Guaranty Trust Bank Limited against the Directors of Afex Exchange Commodities Limited over alleged indebtedness of N17, 808, 452, 467. 107 billion loan
Justice Aneke fixed the date after hearing arguments and submissions of the Applicant’s lead Counsel, Mr. Ade Adedeji (SAN) and the Respondent’s Counsel, Prof. Olawoyin (SAN) over the Afex Exchange Commodities Directors’ disobedience to the Order of Court.
Guaranty Trust Bank Limited (plaintiff ) had through its counsel, Chief Ajibola A. Aribisala (SAN) filed a suit marked FHC/L/CS/911/2024 against the Respondent, Afex Exchange Commodities Limited to recover the outstanding indebtedness of Afex to the bank in the sum of N17,808,452,467.107.
The contempt proceeding was initiated against the Directors of Afex Exchange Commodities Limited upon their disobedience to the Order of Court made on May 27, 2024.
The parties joined in the contempt proceedings are Afex Exchange Commodities Limited, its Directors namely, Ayodeji Olaleye Balogun, Jendayi Fraaser, Justin Lee Topilow, Mobolaji Oluwatomi Adeoye and Koonal Bharat Ghandi.
The court had at the last sitting ordered the contemnors who were not in Court to appear before it on Thursday 20th June, 2024 following the issuance of Form 49 which was served on them via newspaper publication.
However, at the resumed proceeding on Thursday , the Plaintiff/Applicant’s (GTB) lead Counsel, Mr. Adedeji (SAN) told the court that there are two contempt proceedings pending before the court. He said one is ripe for hearing while the other is not.
He submitted that the first one is the contempt proceeding against Afex Commodities Exchange Limited’s five directors which is ripe for hearing while the second one which is the contempt proceeding against the directors of 27 Commercial Banks is not ripe for hearing.
The 27 banks include: Access Bank Plc, Citibank Nigeria Limited, Ecobank Plc, Globus Bank Limited, Jaiz Bank Plc, Union Bank of Nigeria Plc, Fidelity Bank Plc, First Bank of Nigeria Plc and First City Monument Bank Plc.
Others are: Heritage Bank Limited, Keystone Bank Limited, Lotus Bank Limited, Parallex Bank, Polaris Bank Limited, Premium Trust Bank Limited, Providus Bank Limited, Signature Bank Limited, Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc, Standard Chartered Bank Nigeria Plc, Sterling Bank Plc, Sun Trust Bank Nigeria Limited, TAJ Bank Limited, Titan Trust Bank, United Bank For Africa Plc, Wema Bank Plc and Unity Bank Plc as 1st to 27 respondents respectively.
However, the banks were all represented by their counsels while Prof. Olawoyin (SAN) represented Afex Exchange Commodities Limited and its five directors.
Mr. Adedeji submitted to the court that when a specific order is being made by the court, it must be obeyed. He argued that none of Afex’s Directors were indefiance to the Order of Court.
He said, “My lord, the parties in contempt are not in court. The contemnor cannot sit in their comfort home and be sending a lawyer to court in a contempt proceeding. The law is trite that they must appear before the court.”
Buttressing his arguement, he said the company directors invocated the contempt proceeding, and further in response to the submission by Olawoyin, he contends that the issue of jurisdiction be treated first.
Citing the case of Ebodaghe v. Okoye 2004, the Plaintiff’s Counsel said the Supreme Court decision on the issue is clear, that contempt must be given priority.
“The counsel did not apologize to court as to why the contemnor was not in court.
“They are trying to avoid coming to court. The integrity of the court matters a lot.”
Responding, Prof. Olawoyin said he was briefed on Tuesday about the matter, expressing that he was not aware of what transpired earlier in the case, that he got to know of some facts upon enquiry.
“When I inquired of the whereabouts of the contemnor was why I filed the application before the court. The people listed as directors in the suit are no longer with the company. There are only three directors in the company now and one of them is in court, Mr. Akinyinka. And the other one went for Umrah (Hajj) with due respect.
“I will never be part to disrespect the court. I need to extract fact. I prayed the court to give us opportunity and grant us adjournment.”
He urged the court to give him opportunity to be heard and deal with the matter appropriately.
Meanwhile, Counsel representing Citibank prayed the court to discharge her client (Citibank) but Justice Aneke said she has to come back on the next adjourned date and also Mr. Olajide who represented Sterling bank, the 21st Respondent that filed an application to be joined in the suit.
Olajide said he filed the application to show cause. But Mr. Adedeji responded that it is not ripe for hearing.
Justice Aneke subsequently adjourned further hearing in the suit to June 27, 2024.
Recall that at the last adjourned date, Chief Aribisala (SAN) had told the court that the contempt proceedings is sui generis (of its own kind) and takes precedence above any other applications before the court.
He submitted that every person to whom an order of court is directed has an unqualified obligation to obey the order until it is discharged or set aside on appeal. Chief Aribisala argued that the alleged contemnors were still liable to show cause as to why they should not be punished for contempt.
On May 27, Justice Aneke had granted an interim Global Standing Instruction (GSI) injunctive relief, upon an application by Chief Aribisala on behalf of GTB. GSI was created as a last resort for banks and financial institutions to recover outstanding loans from chronic debtors.
The court also granted a “Pre-judgment interest on the N15,766,475,417.06 at the prevailing rediscounted rate of 28 per cent per annum , as approved by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) from April 18, 2024, when the Plaintiff’s letter of demand dated April 17, 2024 was delivered to the defendant, until Judgment is delivered in this suit.
“Post-judgment interest on the said sum of N15,766,475,417.06 and cost of recovery and incidental expenses in the sum of N2,041,977,050.047.”
The court further granted a mandatory injunction ordering the Defendant/Respondents to allow the Plaintiff to appoint its appointed agent to take over the commodities/produce stored by the defendant in the 16 warehouses across seven States of Nigeria.
