An Abuja High Court yesterday threatened to issue a bench warrant on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Mallam Lamido Sanusi come Thursday, if he fails to obey an order absolute it made against the apex bank to pay a judgment sum of N460 million to BPS Engineering and Construction Company Limited.
The court presided over by Justice Uffort Inyang gave the threat after the apex bank governor failed to meet an earlier ultimatum to pay the judgment sum within 24 hours. In granting the bank an extension of time, the judge warned that if by the next date the apex bank has not complied with the order, he would not hesitate “to reach out to my weapon of contempt against the contempt-nor.”
The court had last Wednesday made an order absolute, directing the bank to pay the said sum to the construction company after he had entered judgment in favour of BPS Engineering and Construction against Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA).
In the substantive suit, BPS claimed that it carried out several construction projects for the agency, but upon completion, FERMA reneged in the said agreement to pay up what was due the company, a claim that the court on December 20, 2011 upheld.
Following the judgment, Justice Inyang made a garnishee order absolute on August 1, 2012 asking the bank, where FERMA’s account was domiciled to pay up the judgment sum within 24 hours.???
When the matter came up for report of implementation yesterday, counsel to CBN, Olumuyiwa Akinboro prayed the court for an extension of time within which to comply with the order of the court, arguing that 24 hours was grossly insufficient for the bank to initiate and carry out the order.????
He further argued that since the CBN received the order of the court the previous day at about 10:00am, the 24hour ultimatum had not expired before they came to court. Akinboro prayed the court to “uphold its own tenets of justice because justice is a two-way traffic. If an order is extremely strict, the garnishee may be deemed contemptuous of the court even when that is not his intention.”
Meanwhile, ounsel to the plaintiff/judgment Creditor, Mr. Tochukwu Onwugbufor (SAN) prayed the court to dismiss the argument by the CBN counsel, saying that the issue of bureaucracy was irrelevant to the case.
Referring to an earlier affidavit by one of the legal officers of the apex, Jude Onwuharonye where he said that he was informed by the one Emmanuel Malomo, a senior manager, Banking Payments System Department of the apex bank that the judgment sum had been set aside by the bank, Onwugbufor said “he cannot say that unless it has been approved by the governor of the bank. He does not need the approval of the approval of the governor to comply with a court order.”