Dantaco Limited & Ors V. Continental Merchant Bank (Nig) LTD & Anor (2016)

LawGlobal-Hub Lead Judgment Report – COURT OF APPEAL

OLUDOTUN ADEBOLA?ADEFOPE-OKOJIE, J.C.A. (Delivering the Lead Ruling)

The Applicants filed a Motion, dated 26th June 2015 and filed on 29th June 2015, seeking the following reliefs:

1. An order re-listing the Appellants/Applicants’ appeal with Appeal No. CA/K/24/2001 which was struck out by this Honouroble Court on November 28, 2013.
2. An Order granting leave for Continental Merchant Bank Nigeria Limited to be substituted with the Nigeria Deposit Insurance corporation as the Respondent on record.
3. An order granting leave to the Appellants to raise for the first time before this Honourable Court, a fresh Jurisdictional ground of appeal relating to the incompetence of the Respondent’s initiating Court process at the Failed Bank Tribunal, based on the fact that same was signed by “Charles Okike & Associates and the “Company Secretary/Legal Adviser” of the Respondent and consequently, the Tribunal has no jurisdiction to entertain the matter ab initio, because it was not signed by persons prescribed by law.
4. An Order granting leave to the Appellants/Applicants to amend Notice of Appeal dated May 29, 1999 by inserting

the above additional ground of appeal; making the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation the Respondent on record; and deleting the names of the 3rd and 4th Applicants, because they ore deceased.

5. AND FOR SUCH FURTHER OR OTHER ORDER(S) as this Honourable Court may deem fit to make in the circumstances.

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The grounds upon which the application is brought, as thereon endorsed, are the following:

a. When the Kano Zone of the Failed Bank Tribunal refused to set aside its’ default judgment, the Applicant appealed to the Failed Bank Special Appeals Tribunal, Lagos but then the whole Failed Bank Tribunal system was dissolved, after which the Federal High Court took over all failed Bank cases and their Registry distributed pending appeals to various divisions of the Court of Appeal.

b. In the instant case, the Registry transmitted the Record of Appeal for the present appeal to the Kaduna division of this Honourable Court and also Jos.

c. The Applicants were prosecuting the Jos appeal, when the Jos division suo motu raised the issue of whether it has territorial jurisdiction to entertain an appeal emanating from Kano and the Appellants were

asked to look into the issue and address the Court on that point.

d. The undersigned, who only took over the handling of the case much later in the day, was at the time the jurisdiction issue was raised, unaware of the existence of the same appeal before the Kaduna division and accordingly the Kaduna appeal was struck out for absence of counsel when it was mentioned in Court on November 28, 2011.

e. The undersigned is of the considered opinion that this being a case that emanated from Kano as aforesaid, this appeal ought to be heard by the Kaduna division of the Court of Appeal and not Jos.

f. The undersigned is also of the opinion that the Tribunal lacked jurisdiction to hear the matter, because of the ground stated above and in order to raise the jurisdiction point for the first time on appeal, leave of Court is arguably required.

g. Continental Merchant Bank which was appointed by NDIC to recover the loan at the Tribunal is no longer in existence and so NDIC ought to be the Respondent on record and Messrs Usman Sanusi Dantata and Sanusi Dontata died some years back and so their names ought to be deleted.

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