Appeal Court Sets Aside Contempt Judgment against First Bank’s Chairman, MD
The Court of Appeal, Lagos Division, has set aside the decision of a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos, which convicted, the Chairman of First Bank Nigeria Plc, Pastor Ibukun Awosika, and the bank’s Managing Director, Dr. Adesola Adeduntan, for contempt over judgment debt of N17 billion.
The appellate court voided the decision of the Federal High Court on the grounds that the lower court judge erred in law when it convicted the bank bosses for contempt premised on the allegation of breach of an undertaking.
Justice Ibrahim Buba of the Federal High Court in Lagos had found Awosika and Adeduntan guilty for the refusal of the bank to release N17 billion plus interests that First Bank allegedly guaranteed to pay the community on behalf of Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) of Nigeria Limited in respect of the judgment debt against SPDC in an oil spill suit filed by the community.
The judge in his judgment of June 6, 2018 sentenced them to three months of imprisonment but suspended the sentencing till September 6, 2018 to enable the bank and its officials to purge themselves of the contempt
The court had in a judgment ordered First Bank Plc to pay Ejama-Ebubu community of Ogoni in Rivers State the sum of N17 billion bond guaranteed by the bank on behalf of Shell Petroleum Development Company Limited (SPDC). But First Bank Plc refused to obey the order of the court, forcing Justice Ibrahim Buba to commit the 1st to 3 defendants to jail for contempt.
In a substantive suit, 10 indigenes of Ejama community in Ogoniland, had through their counsel, Lucius Nwosu (SAN), sued Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Netherlands; Royal Dutch Shell Plc, United Kingdom; and SPDC for oil spills that allegedly occurred when Shell operated in the community at the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt.
Dissatisfied with the decision of Justice Buba on their conviction for contempt, the bank chiefs through their lawyers led by Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), filed an appeal.