A Federal High Court in Lagos on Tuesday
made an order attaching funds standing to the credit of Zamfara State
in 21 commercial banks in the country.
Justice Okon Abang ordered all the banks involved to disclose the amount of money which Zamfara State has in their keepings.
He ordered the 21 banks to appear before
him on November 6, 2015 to give reasons, if they have any, why such
funds should not be withdrawn to satisfy a debt of N3.1bn with interest,
which Zamfara State owed Ecobank Nigeria Limited.
Abang had on September 30, 2015 entered
judgment in favour of Ecobank in a N3.1bn debt recovery suit it filed
against Zamfara State Government and six others.
The judge had granted the bank’s claim
of N3.1bn with 30 per cent interest from March 1, 2013 till judgment day
and 10 per cent thereafter until the final liquidation of the debt.
In the said judgment, Abang said the
papers before him showed that Zamfara State obtained a credit facility
of N1.5bn in 2009 from the defunct Oceanic Bank Plc, which was later
acquired by Ecobank.
The
judge said Zamfara State neither denied being indebted to the bank nor
proved that it had liquidated the loan, which it obtained to execute a
water project.
He then ordered the Accountant General
of the Federation to ensure that the judgment sum with interest was
deducted from funds accruable to Zamfara State in the Federation Account
and pay it to Ecobank until the debt was fully liquidated.
But both Zamfara State and the Central
Bank of Nigeria went on appeal and subsequently urged Abang to stay the
execution of the judgment pending the determination of the appeals.
However, in a ruling on Tuesday, Abang
dismissed both applications and asked Ecobank to proceed with the
process of recovering the debt from Zamfara State.
Ruling on the CBN application, the judge
said, “I have been wondering how the order will affect the CBN so that
the CBN will now go and apply for stay of execution of not just the
order made against it but the entire judgment.
“It is my humble view that CBN will not lose anything if the order is complied with.
“The Central Bank should assist Ecobank
in its time of need because if Ecobank’s liquidity is affected on
account of non-payment of loan by Zamfara State, it is the same CBN that
will withdraw Ecobank’s licence; and it is the innocent depositors that
will be affected if the licence of Ecobank is withdrawn by the CBN.
“The Central Bank should assist Ecobank
to recover the loan from Zamfara State government, whether or not it was
party to the loan agreement, because the amount that will go to Zamfara
State is domiciled with the CBN.”
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