Nearly a month after a Federal High Court made an order freezing his accounts and granting control of his company’s assets and facilities to Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria, AMCON, reprieve came to embattled Mr. Ifeanyi Ubah, owner of Capital Oil and Gas Industries Limited, as the court on Wednesday discharged the order it granted freezing the properties of the company.
The court had last month granted the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria, AMCON, immediate possession of properties belonging to the company and its owner, Ifeanyi Ubah.
The order freezing the company’s properties was made under Sections 49 and 50 of Amcon’s Act.
While discharging the order, Justice Abdul Kafarati held that AMCON did not have to destroy or kill a going concern just because it is owing it some money.
He upheld the argument of Mr. Ifeanyi Uba’s lawyer, Chief Wole Olanipekun, a senior advocate of Nigeria, to the effect that the duty of AMCON was to make sure that debtors pay their debt and not to push them out of business.
The judge also faulted the method adopted by AMCON in securing the exparte order freezing the company’s accounts. Although the judge could not find any section of the AMCON Act he could rely on to vacate the order, he chose to rely on the inherent jurisdiction of the court and Section 6 (6) of the Constitution.
Justice Kafarati also stated that it was not in doubt that the company’s business was a going concern when the order was made. He also said that AMCON did not gain anything from the order he granted them since about a month ago.
He noted that since AMCON could not dispose the properties while the case was in court, that it is prudent to allow the Mr. Ubah to continue to operate his business and organise how to repay the debt. He therefore directed AMCON to allow Capital Oil continue with its business while the company negotiates how to pay the debt.
“To stop the company from operating might have adverse effect on the economy of the country, parties should sit down and agree on how the debt would be repaid instead of shutting down the business”
The court had earlier varied the order following an application by the company for an order to allow it pay its workers’ salaries.
Ubah and Capital Oil are allegedly indebted to AMCON to the tune of N48.014 billion and were among the 113 companies and 419 directors/shareholders that the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, listed as AMCON’s debtors.
The banks have since been barred from extending further credit to the debtor companies and their directors until they repay their loans.
