Central Bank Of Nigeria V. Auto Import Export & Anor (2012)

LawGlobal-Hub Lead Judgment Report – COURT OF APPEAL

IBRAHIM MOHAMMED MUSA SAULAWA, J.C.A (Delivering the Leading Judgment)

This is an appeal against the ruling of the High Court of Lagos State, Lagos Judicial Division, which was delivered by the Hon. Justice A.A. Oyebanji on May 30, 2008. By the said ruling, the court below made the garnishee order absolute, to the effect that the Appellant (Garnishee) shall pay forthwith to the 1st Respondent (judgment Creditor/Garnishor) the total of the judgment sum entered by the Supreme Court in the judgment thereof on 16/12/05, together with interests accruing thereupon. Being dissatisfied with the said ruling, the Appellant filed the notice of appeal thereof on 09/6/08.

FACTS AND CIRCUMSTANCES SURROUNDING THE APPEAL:

As gleaned from the records of appeal, the genesis of the appeal is traceable to 16/12/05. That was the day on which the judgment in question was entered by the Supreme Court in favour of the 1st Respondent, against the 2nd Respondent and two others, namely: (i) J.A.A. Adebayo (Receiver/Manager, Continental Motors & Engineering co. Ltd and (ii) A.O. Obikoya & sons Ltd. The lead judgment, delivered by the Hon. Justice G.A Oguntade, JSC, was conclusively to the following effect:

In the final conclusion, the judgments of the two courts below are set aside. In its (sic) place, judgment is given against the 1st, 2nd and 3rd defendants and severally for the sum of US $1.7 million. The judgment sum shall attract interest at the rate of 12% per annum from 2/12/77 until 16th July 1986 when the judgment of the trial court was given and thereafter interest at 6% per annum until the judgment debt and interest are fully paid. The appellant is entitled to costs against the 3rd respondent which I fix at N10,000.00.

Consequent upon the above Supreme Court’s judgment, the 1st Respondent filed in the court below, on 03/01/06, a garnishee application exparte. On 09/01/06, the lower court delivered a ruling thereby refusing to grant the application exparte seeking to attach the monies of 2nd and 3rd Respondents in possession of the (i.e. garnishee) Appellant. Instead, the lower court merely made an order directing the Appellant to show cause why the monies standing to the credit of the 2nd Respondent with the Appellant should not be paid over to the 1st Respondent.

On 30/10/06, the 3rd Respondent filed in the court below a motion on notice seeking to strike out or dismiss the garnishee proceedings and discharge the order made on 18/01/06. The application was predicated upon the ground that the 1st Respondent was not a juristic person, as it had been allegedly struck off the list of registered companies in Romania, where it was registered before the commencement of the Garnishee proceedings. The Appellant equally filed a similar application, on 25/7/07, seeking to dismiss the garnishee proceedings, on the grounds that (i) the 1st Respondent was no longer a juristic person at the time the garnishee processes were filed on 03/01/06, and (ii) the Appellant being an agency of the Federal Government of Nigeria, within the meaning of Section 251(1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, the lower court lacks jurisdiction to hear the garnishee proceedings.

On 30/5/08, the lower court delivered the vexed ruling in question.

Dissatisfied with the said ruling, the Appellant filed the instant appeal upon a total of grounds of appeal. The record of appeal was transmitted from the lower court to this court on 07/8/08. The Appellant’s brief was filed on 11/9/08 by Olumiyiwa Aduroja Esq. Four issues have so far been formulated in the Appellant’s brief, to wit:

i. Whether the lower court was right in its consideration and determination of the 1st Respondents Motion to dismiss the Appellant’s Motion challenging the jurisdiction of the Court before considering and/or resolving the issue of jurisdiction raised by the Appellant –

GROUND 4.

ii. Whether the lower Court was right in saying that the Appellant is not competent to raise the issue of juristic personality of the 1st Respondent considering the fact that the existence of parties known to law (Garnishee/Garnishee) confer jurisdiction on the lower Court in a Garnishee proceedings GROUNDS TWO & THREE.

iii. Whether the lower Court has jurisdiction in a matter involving an Agency of the Federal Government of Nigeria – GROUND ONE.

iv. Whether the lower Court is competent to make the Garnishee order absolute without firstly attaching the funds of the 2nd and 3rd Respondents in possession of the Appellant and if the Court can make an order not asked for by the 1st Respondent without also moving the Exparte Garnishee application GROUND 5.