JUSTICE Okechukwu Okeke of a Federal High Court in Lagos will on 14 June, 2011 deliver his ruling in a suit filed by the former Managing Director of Intercontinental Bank Plc, Erastus Akingbola and an erstwhile Executive Director of the bank, Mr Bayo Dada, in which they were challenging the planned sale of the bank to Access Bank.
The date was fixed by the judge after counsel in the matter argued and adopted their written submissions on the preliminary objections filed by the defendants.
The duo of Akingbola and Dada are challenging the propriety of a purported Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for business combination signed by Intercontinental Bank and Access Bank, without recourse to them as shareholders and members of Intercontinental bank.
Akingbola and Dada had listed Intercontinental Bank and its Managing Director, Mahmoud Lai Alabi and other Directors, Abubakar Sule, Gbenga Alade, Olusegun Osilowo and Suleiman Yusuf as co-defendants.
The list of defendants also included Intercontinental Bank’s chairman, Raymond Obieri, Seinye Lulu-Briggs, Toyin Philips, Chris Alabi, J.S.P.C Nwokolo, Sanni Adams, Access Bank and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
However, the Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN) and others, in their preliminary objection, are urging the court to dismiss the suit because the petitioners lacked the locus standi to institute the suit, and that the court lacked jurisdiction to entertain it.
The defendants are also contending that the suit was statute-barred, in that it disclosed no reasonable cause of action.
In the main suit, Akingbola and Dada maintained, in an affidavit, that the Managing Director of Access Bank, Aigboje I. Aig-Imoukhuede and his deputy, Herbert Wigwe, are actually indebted to Intercontinental Bank to the tune of N16.247 billion.
The loan, which is said to be outstanding till date, was said to have been procured through a firm, United Alliance Company of Nigeria Limited.
They added that the said United Alliance Company recently wrote a letter dated March 28, 2011 to Alabi (Intercontinental Bank’s MD) claiming that the debt was N10.2 billion, and requested for a change in repayment date up till December. Besides, the plaintiffs stressed that Intercontinental Bank had an excellent business reputation which earned the bank meritorious rating by informed industry watchers, but that the fortune of the bank nose-dived when Sanusi sacked them on August 14, 2009 without lawful reason and fair hearing.
The date was fixed by the judge after counsel in the matter argued and adopted their written submissions on the preliminary objections filed by the defendants.
The duo of Akingbola and Dada are challenging the propriety of a purported Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for business combination signed by Intercontinental Bank and Access Bank, without recourse to them as shareholders and members of Intercontinental bank.
Akingbola and Dada had listed Intercontinental Bank and its Managing Director, Mahmoud Lai Alabi and other Directors, Abubakar Sule, Gbenga Alade, Olusegun Osilowo and Suleiman Yusuf as co-defendants.
The list of defendants also included Intercontinental Bank’s chairman, Raymond Obieri, Seinye Lulu-Briggs, Toyin Philips, Chris Alabi, J.S.P.C Nwokolo, Sanni Adams, Access Bank and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
However, the Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN) and others, in their preliminary objection, are urging the court to dismiss the suit because the petitioners lacked the locus standi to institute the suit, and that the court lacked jurisdiction to entertain it.
The defendants are also contending that the suit was statute-barred, in that it disclosed no reasonable cause of action.
In the main suit, Akingbola and Dada maintained, in an affidavit, that the Managing Director of Access Bank, Aigboje I. Aig-Imoukhuede and his deputy, Herbert Wigwe, are actually indebted to Intercontinental Bank to the tune of N16.247 billion.
The loan, which is said to be outstanding till date, was said to have been procured through a firm, United Alliance Company of Nigeria Limited.
They added that the said United Alliance Company recently wrote a letter dated March 28, 2011 to Alabi (Intercontinental Bank’s MD) claiming that the debt was N10.2 billion, and requested for a change in repayment date up till December. Besides, the plaintiffs stressed that Intercontinental Bank had an excellent business reputation which earned the bank meritorious rating by informed industry watchers, but that the fortune of the bank nose-dived when Sanusi sacked them on August 14, 2009 without lawful reason and fair hearing.
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